Loads of Love
2023 Cooperative Response Grant Recipient | St. James UMC | Kansas City, MO
Clean clothes can make a difference in how you feel, providing comfort, confidence, and hygiene. St. James UMC in Kansas City has teamed up with a neighborhood business owner to share hope and love through clean clothes.
Carol's Laundry sits catty corner from the church. Dr. Yvette Richards, Director of Community Connections and Mission, and the mission team contacted the owners and asked if they would partner in a ministry that provides free laundry service for individuals to wash and dry clothing. One Saturday a month, volunteers from St. James UMC and St. Andrews Episcopal gather at the laundromat to greet folks, providing them with coins, detergent, and laundry bags and offering prayer and conversation. During each event, they help cover 400-500 loads of laundry. The laundromat has helped cover a portion of the monthly cost, and other community partners, like Samuel U Rodgers and Lead to Read, provide laundry detergent and books for the children.
The ministry reaches those in need, including single mothers with children, singles and the elderly. This is the only opportunity for one mother of 5 to wash her family's clothes. She washes between 24 and 32 loads of laundry every month at the event. "The smiles on the faces of the children knowing they will have clean clothes to wear, and the mothers express great appreciation. The personal stories shared of how they have been praying for help in this manner" are all exciting parts of this ministry, says Dr. Richards. "I am excited that they see the work of Jesus Christ in the volunteers who have conversations and offer prayers when requested."
St. James UMC received a Cooperative Response Grant in April 2023 to support this ministry outreach. As they partner with St. Andrews Episcopal and several community partners, they represent the vision Festival of Sharing has for responding to poverty at the community level. Using God's gifts of people and connection, the initiative provides comfort and dignity. It shares love and hope through a basic necessity and reflection of Christ caring for those in the community.