Loads of Love offers free laundry (VIDEO)

VERMILION — There's something neighborly going on at Vermilion's sole laundromat. For a few hours on the last Saturday of every month, a few volunteers show up at Beanie's Laundry on Liberty Avenue with smiles on their faces. They set up a folding table and set out laundry supplies — detergent, dryer sheets, free for the taking — and then go the extra mile: quarters, too. Ample quarters. And snacks, juice boxes for little kids. All free. They call it Loads of Love, an outreach program of Trinity Lutheran Church. Trinity got the idea from another church in Medina, said church member Barb Roberts, who coordinates the laundry program. It started up in Vermilion in February, funded by a private grant and the congregation has been funding it since. Every week, church members donate rolls of quarters or laundry soap, she said. "We have a basket on the counter and people put in their change. Not a Sunday goes by I don't get a donation. When I first asked for this, I had so much soap and things donated, the church smelled so good," she said. The church spends $300 to $400 a month to help others do their laundry. "Doing laundry is very, very expensive. I didn't even realize it was. People who are down and out, they're just barely scraping by as it is, and this really, really helps," Roberts said. "Sometimes they come in with big, big loads of laundry. I don't ask questions. I remember how many loads I was doing every day with a family, and these people need help." The laundromat has small machines that cost $3 and big ones that cost $11 per load. Not everybody takes them up on their offer, and that's OK, too. "One gentleman told me one time he used to be homeless and was so blessed he is not any more, and he didn't want the help and said 'please pass this on to someone else.' He was very grateful that when he needed help, he found it where he could," Roberts said. "Sometimes they take help, sometimes they don't. We're not judging anybody. We're just going to keep plugging along and helping as many people as we can, each time we go," she said. Angel Payne comes to Beanie's on the last Saturday of every month, counting on the Loads of Love outreach to help her get her laundry done. Payne, a dialysis patient, said it saves her $40 a month. "It helps me out tremendously, for being on a fixed income. I want to thank them very much for helping me." "We believe strongly that we are here to help our neighbors. And everybody is our neighbors. That's what our God teaches us and that's what we do," Roberts said. "It just makes us feel really good that we're serving other people. That's what our mission is in life. To help other people and do what we can for them." Contact Rini Jeffers at rinijeffers@gmail.com.