Laundry Love

On Tuesday, September 3 Laundry Love, St. Cloud celebrated its 10th birthday! This wonderful ministry is run by a team from St. John’s in St. Cloud. Laundry Love, St. Cloud began when Nancy Dyson learned that her daughter’s piano teacher had taken blankets and other needed items to the people living in the park next to Lake George.
 

One Sunday before church Nancy and one of her daughters brought cups of coffee to neighbors living in the park. They returned week after week, and the cups of coffee evolved into big breakfasts. Nancy and her daughters got to know their unsheltered neighbors, who shared their stories and hardships. Nancy invited people from St. John’s to come to the breakfast, stressing that it wasn’t a “program” requiring a lot of planning, but a way to meet neighbors.
 

During the breakfast Nancy and the people of St. John’s noticed some of the men doing laundry in the decorative fountains near the lake. Cleaning clothing was challenging. Nancy and her daughters decided to try something called “Laundry Love.” Nancy did some research and found out that the slowest day at Kipps Laundry was Tuesday. So, on a Tuesday three of the men living at Lake George, Nancy, a jar of quarters, a jug of detergent and some sandwiches made their way to Kipps.  The men did their laundry, and they decided to try it again. This time they invited others to come. That’s how it grew. By the time the pandemic hit, about one hundred people were coming.
 

In addition to paying for peoples’ laundry and providing soap and dryer sheets, the Laundry Love team from St. John’s is present to listen to and learn from neighbors. After participating in the Learning from London program this past June, Nancy was inspired to add “a spiritual extra” to this ministry. Every time Laundry Love happens, the first and third Tuesday of the month + every fifth Tuesday, someone circulates with sheets of paper on which people can write or dictate their prayer requests, with the option to provide their name and number if they want someone to call them. The first time they tried this experiment the box for the prayer sheets was full. The prayers reveal what many of St. John’s neighbors are going through, and they are deeply moving. Many people in the laundromat want to talk about their prayer request/s, and are glad to be able to share their burdens and hopes with another human being.

The testimonies about Laundry Love from people at the laundromat were moving. One
woman said, "The only good thing going in St. Cloud". This is clearly more than a way
for people who are struggling to have clean clothes. It's about relationships, community, and bringing people together across many lines of difference. This ministry demonstrates what the Holy Spirit does when we show up in the spaces in our lives with a posture of curiosity, and are willing to make ourselves vulnerable by taking the next faithful step – whether that involves taking blankets or coffee to unsheltered neighbors, noticing that these same neighbors don’t have anywhere to do their laundry, or finding a way to help people have access to something
needed while developing meaningful relationships with them.

St. Paul’s, Duluth and Holy Communion, St. Peter are also involved with a Laundry
Love ministry.