Volunteers keep Northern Colorado laundry truck's mission rolling after crash

A mobile laundry service in Fort Collins and Loveland is back on the road five months after its truck was damaged in a crash.

The mobile laundry service has been operated by Homeward Alliance volunteers for five years, providing free and accessible laundry to people with low income and families and people experiencing homelessness. Volunteers drive the laundry truck — outfitted with six washers and six dryers — to locations in Fort Collins and Loveland weekly so clients can have their laundry washed, dried and folded for free.

In January, the truck was hit by another vehicle while on its way to one of the sites. The truck’s axle and all 12 machines inside were damaged, and the truck wasn’t operational, co-founder of the program Woody Carlson said. It took five months for them to raise funds, find the parts needed and get the truck repaired.

But volunteers found a way to continue the service without the truck while it was being repaired.

“We never missed a day for five months,” Carlson said. “We’re always here, they can always depend on us.”

Volunteers continued collecting laundry at the usual sites, then took clients' laundry to nearby laundromats to have it washed. Then they drove the clean and folded clothes back to the site, or clients met the volunteers at the laundromat to pick up their clean clothes.

This was a lot more work for volunteers and it cost the program a lot more money, Carlson said.

Longtime volunteer Eric Wurtz said his job of driving to and from sites didn’t change much while they operated out of laundromats, but it was a challenging time for the volunteers doing the laundry.

Funds raised from individual donors, local churches and clubs, along with $20,000 from a Next with Kyle Clark Word of Thanks donation campaign, made it possible for Homeward Alliance to repair the truck and buy all new machines, Carlson said. Repairing the truck was cheaper than starting over with a new one and having to add new gas, water and electrical lines.

The repaired truck hit the road for the first time last month.

“I think it’s great. It’s more convenient for the clients, it’s more convenient for volunteers,” Wurtz said. “That’s really what we set out to do, do all of this in one location.”

Dione Green came by the truck parked at the Fullana Learning Center near Old Town Fort Collins on Tuesday to get her laundry done after hearing about the free service from a friend at a nearby shelter.

Green said she recently became homeless and has discovered laundry is a service she had difficulty accessing, but she said the free mobile laundry truck is convenient and the service “means a lot to me.”

Access to clean clothes is correlated to student success in school and higher self-esteem, and adults lacking access to clean clothes or laundry services can struggle maintaining a job, Carlson said.

Working families, especially single parents, appreciate the mobile laundry service because laundry doesn’t always fit into their schedule or budget, Carlson said.

One family that Carlson says regularly uses the laundry service includes a single mother who works nights while her eldest child takes care of her siblings. The mother gets home from work to get her children ready for school in the morning, sleeps during the day, and then cares for her family at night before going back to work.

“That’s the kind of family we target because when would they have time to do laundry?” Carlson asked.

Volunteers are also able to talk with clients while the laundry is getting done and connect them with other services through Homeward Alliance. 

“You get to talk to all the people who come and meet new people,” Wurtz said. “It’s a pretty easy volunteer job and it’s appreciated. The clients really appreciate it.”

For more information on how to support the mobile laundry service, either by donating or volunteering, visit the Homeward Alliance website.

Where to find the mobile laundry truck

Tuesdays: Fullana Learning Center, 220 N. Grant Ave., Fort Collins (parked in the back off of Loomis Street)

Thursdays and Fridays: Loveland Public Library, 300 N. Adams Ave., Loveland

People can drop off their laundry between 8:30 a.m. and noon and pick up their clean clothes no later than 2:45 p.m. the same day. No reservations are required.

This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Northern Colorado mobile laundry truck repaired 5 months after crash