LoveOne OC provided 960 pounds of clean laundry and served 20 families at this week’s event. Our youngest neighbor was an adorable 8-month-old who entertained our volunteers throughout the evening. We had the privilege of connecting with a newly homeless individual and not just providing clean laundry and personal care resources, but also – and most importantly – a listening ear.
Once again, our community of volunteers left us in tears. An individual heard about LoveOne at Oregon City Les Schwab while getting his car worked on and decided to show up to our event and help out. Not only did he help run the washers, but he made a generous financial donation to help cover the cost of our event. Thank you, Max! Dan from Grocery Outlet personally delivered gift bags (with gift cards!) to our event, and several families came out to help manage the resource tables and run the washers and dryers - Stephanie, Brook, Orion, Ali, Cole, Shelley, Brian, Chris, Tucker, Bailee – thank you!
A local Uber driver offered to provide transportation to and from the laundromat for neighbors who needed help getting from Oregon City to Milwaukie. Thank you, Linda, you made several faces shine a lot brighter on Tuesday!
Our friend Carol from the Beavercreek Mom’s Club made sandwiches to order and wow, what a gift that was! Imagine feeling physical hunger as well as hunger for love and acceptance. The simple act of making someone a sandwich, giving deference to their likes and dislikes, carefully making something with love because…humanity. People carried their sandwiches around like mini treasures.
After loading up their freshly laundered clothing and bedding, several of our neighbors came back inside the laundromat to thank us for what we do. The faces of our neighbors change considerably between the time they arrive at a LoveOne event and when they leave. That, friends, is the impact of this tiniest gift of hope and the reason we do what we do.
“Without dignity, identity is erased.” – Laura Hillenbrand
Thank you for bearing with us while we navigate the challenge of not having a laundromat in Oregon City available for holding our events. We are grateful that the owners of QED Laundry are willing to let LoveOne hold both our Milwaukie and Oregon City events at their facility so that we can continue to provide clean laundry for our neighbors in need.
