There is a Need! .....Please Read

Dear Friends,

I am not sure if you heard or not but last week there was a fire in my community at a local hotel that housed many of the homeless families in our community. As if being homeless wasn't hard enough this created an even greater hardship on these families. They have been left without clothing, hygiene products, and the list goes on and on.

One of their most immediate and basic needs is actually being able to get their laundry done as the laundry facilities were destroyed as well. There are around 90 people that are without these services - around 20-25 families. They need your help.

Think about how critical doing their laundry is for these families. There is the very basic need for good hygiene  of course but this helps them maintain employment, find new employment by being able to have fresh clean clothes for interviews, not to mention the benefits to the children to have clean clothes as well!

A year and a half ago Jason and I were able to participate in a project called "Laundry Love". We went to East Colfax in Denver, CO to do the laundry of some of the homeless people there. This was an amazing experience for us and we have been praying for the past year and a half that God would allow us to bring this project to our own community. When I read a Facebook post from my dear friend Autumn regarding the needs of these families I knew that it was time to bring Laundry Love to our community to help these families.

The concept is a simple one - we will meet this Saturday at a laundry mat here in town and we will do the laundry for any of these people that show up to have their laundry done.

In order to make this happen we do need your help. Here are just a few ways you can contribute:

• We need laundry detergent. 
• We need quarters. (This is one of the few ministry opportunities where quarters do count!) Go through your change jar or buy a roll a quarters. Truly - if you can give $5 you are giving a family a load of clean fresh laundry. What an incredible gift!) 
• Hygiene Kits - I would love to see separate hygiene kits for men, women, and children. Some of the items that you could donate: toothbrushes, toothpaste, shampoo, conditioner, body wash, razors, shaving cream, feminine products, combs, brushes, etc. 
• They also need clothing of any shape and size. 
• Toys may also be a need as well. I think having coloring books, crayons and some smaller toys might be nice for the little ones as we help mom and/or dad do their laundry. 

We are shooting to have this happen THIS SATURDAY! So, if you have anything that you can give in order to help these families please let me know. You can respond by leaving me a comment here, leaving a comment on my FB page if you are a friend of mine there, or you can email me directly. You can also talk with Jason at the church too. The important thing is that you let us know how you want to contribute and we will connect with you on how to make that happen. 

For all my out-of-town friends if you want to help out by sending a donation let me know. I am working on PayPal account that will be set-up just for this. If you are interested in contributing that way let me know and I will get you the info. If you want to mail a $5 Wal-mart gift card for detergent that is totally fine. If you want to send a check to the church that is very appreciated as well. 

If everyone can give just $5 we can make this happen! 

As we get things finalized you can check back here for more info. If you give me your email address I will put you on the email list for updates as well! 

Bless you all and thank you in advance for your help! 

~Andrea