Laundry program offers free wash and dry cycle to Regina residents in need

A group of volunteers is trying to iron out the wrinkles when it comes to getting laundry done for free.

Operation Fresh Start is a program launched by Rally Around Homelessness that offers a free wash and dry cycle for anyone who needs it. The program launched on Thursday, operating through Seaspray Laundry in North Central.

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Alysia Johnson, one of the volunteers, said the program is available to anyone who may need to use it.

“It’s not catering to anybody in particular,” she said. “It’s catering to the need, and that need is getting the laundry done.”

Erinn Paik, a volunteer who lives in North Central, said the service will help people living in the neighbourhood and beyond.

The program will start with 200 vouchers, which can be picked up at The Circle Project on Fifth Avenue and Elphinstone Street. (Gillian Massie/ 980 CJME)

“Something so simple and so small, like a clean load of laundry, can make such a positive impact on someone’s life,” she said. “Why do we even have to think twice about it?”

Paik said she’s lived in different levels of poverty throughout her life. When she lived in a Saskatchewan Housing Authority unit over 20 years ago, she said there was no washer and dryer.

“There were years where I would pack my kids up in a wagon and I’d be taking them to friends’ houses or laundromats until I was in a position where I could finance my own washer and dryer,” she said.

“Not everybody has a friend that they could take the laundry over to their house, or the ability, or the financial stability to purchase a washer and dryer, especially for low-income families.”

Paik said she would often spend an extra $20 a week to clean her family’s clothes, which dug into her income as a single parent.

She said she could have used a program like Operation Fresh Start when she was a young parent.

“This is amazing,” she said. “Today is just outstanding.”

Johnson said people will be able to do their laundry when they present a voucher, which is good for one wash and dry cycle at Seaspray Laundromat. The vouchers are available at The Circle Project on Fifth Avenue and Elphinstone Street. To start, the program will support 200 vouchers a month.

Johnson said Rally Around Homelessness saw success with the “I Gotch You” campaign, which offered new underwear to those in need. She said Operation Fresh Start was the natural next steps to help people clean their clothes.

“It’s for everybody,” said Johnson. “We, as a community, understand that utilities get cut off. People move into rental units that sometimes don’t come with a washer and dryer.”

Johnson said the program is funded through donations. People who want to help fund the program can write a cheque to Seaspray Laundry, which will be deposited into the Operation Fresh Start community laundry account. Donations can also be sent to Rally Around Homelessness.