We Don't Give to Get

Why a laundromat is the best place in town to run a coat drive, and why we never put our name on it.

The Feature

Made to help

I believe we were all made to want to help people.

I believe 99% of people are good at heart. They truly want to help the people around them. Life just wears on us. We deal with enough folks who try to steal and cheat, and over time we get jaded. But the want to help never really leaves.

I see proof of it every year at Wash Bar.

Each fall our stores become drop locations. Sometimes it's coats. Sometimes it's food. Sometimes we're taking up money to help pay for meals at an after-school program. We put up signs, we let our Wash and Fold customers know, and then we watch the generosity pour in.

The response is always overwhelming. Even in our stores in low-income areas.

Something only a laundromat can do

Anybody can put a box by the door and collect coats. Churches do it. Schools do it. Banks do it. But most coat drives can't do one thing we can.

We clean them.

Every coat and jacket that comes in gets stain treated and washed right there in our stores. Then it goes on a hanger and gets wrapped in plastic. What leaves our building is clean and ready to wear. Nobody who receives it has to wonder where it's been.

Last year we took in 82 coats. We would have collected more, but last winter was about as mild as Oklahoma gets. Nobody thinks about coats when it's 60 degrees in December. So this year we're starting in mid-November instead.

And every coat stays in the town where it was donated. A coat dropped off in Ardmore stays in Ardmore.

“I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!”

Matthew 25:40 (NLT)

Where the coats go

We have a heart for kids. So around the first of November, we reach out to the junior high and high school in each of our towns. We sit down with the guidance counselors and principals and ask one question. Can you identify kids who don't have a jacket to get them through the winter?

They always say “yes!” Coats, jackets, and sometimes socks and shoes. We've done all of it.

Then we get out of the way. The kids don't know where the coats came from, and we don't want them to. No photos. No press release. No attention brought to it.

Pretty much the only people who know we give are the school administration. And that's the way we like it.

I know plenty of people who make a donation and then make sure the newspaper hears about it. That's not what we're about. We don't make it about us. We make it about the people in need. We never want to embarrass someone or bring attention to their misfortune.

“But when you give to someone in need, don't let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.”

Matthew 6:3 (NLT)

Last year one school gave us a list of 12 or 13 kids. When we sorted through what came in, we came up a few coats short. So Hannah and I went out and bought the rest ourselves. Every kid on that list stayed warm.

Adult coats go to the homeless shelters in our towns. We wait to call them until the drive is over, because we never know exactly what we're going to end up with.

Yes, it helps the business too

Here's how we set it up. Bring in a new or gently used coat and you get a coupon for 35% off Wash and Fold. Our bank down the road even put it up on their LED video board.

That brought in people who had never thought about using us. Some of them had driven past our stores for years. The coupon gave them a reason to finally walk in and try Wash and Fold.

When they came in, we got their phone number and email. Whether they come back every week or not, we can now reach them with our weekly marketing emails and text messages.

So I'll be straight with you. It does help us. It's just not the reason we do it.

It's not just coats

A while back, Hannah took our boys to the library in Pauls Valley to check out some books. She saw a sign saying they were in great need. A lot of kids were coming in after school, and for many of them the only meals they got all day were breakfast and lunch at school. By evening, they were hungry.

Hannah told me about it. I stopped what I was doing, drove over an hour to the nearest Sam's Club, and filled the bed of my truck with snacks. Healthy ones, with some nutritional value and a decent shelf life. No Mountain Dew and Doritos.

We asked the library not to recognize us. The kids had no idea it was us.

We've donated to the homeless shelters in every one of our towns. We donate to food pantries. And any time a local church tells us they need food or laundry items, we help.

“It is more blessed to give than to receive.”

Acts 20:35 (NLT)

Now, in small towns, word gets out anyway. Somebody sees us unloading the delivery van. A team member mentions it to a friend. That's fine. We just don't go looking for it.

From the Floor

The red coat and the brown coat

I'm not usually at our Ada store. But I happened to be there the day she walked in.

She was carrying two coats. One red, one brown, both gently used. I'm pretty sure she walked to the store. Ada isn't a walkable town, and there's no public transportation. If you're on foot here, it's because you don't have another way to get anywhere.

She had one concern. She wanted to know where the coats were going.

So I walked her through it. We'd stain treat them, wash them, and hang them up. And every single coat would stay in Ada.

She was so happy. Her coats were going to someone right here in town, maybe even a neighbor she had never met, who needed them.

I'll say this next part carefully, because it sounds shallow. But just looking at her, she looked like she needed a coat more than whoever was going to get one.

She didn't have much. She gave anyway. That's who I think about every November. I really believe God made all of us to want to give and help one another.

“No one has ever become poor by giving.”

Anne Frank

Steal This

Run a coat drive only a laundromat could run

Common Questions

What owners ask about running a coat drive

How do you run a coat drive at a laundromat?

Ask local schools to identify kids who need coats, start collecting by mid-November, offer an incentive for each coat, then stain treat, wash, hang, and bag every coat in your store before it goes out. Keep coats in the town where they were donated.

Why is a laundromat a good place for a coat drive?

Most coat drives can only collect. A laundromat can clean every coat, so what goes out is ready to wear. That's something no church box or bank lobby can offer.

What incentive works for a laundromat coat drive?

We give a coupon for 35% off Wash and Fold for each new or gently used coat. It brings in people who have never tried the service, and we collect their phone number and email when they redeem it.

How do you find kids who need coats?

Around the first of November, we meet with guidance counselors and principals at the junior high and high school in each town and ask them to identify kids who don't have a jacket for winter.

When should a laundromat start a coat drive?

Start before the first hard freeze. We moved ours to mid-November after a mild winter cut into how many coats came in.

Should a small business publicize its charitable giving?

We don't. The kids never know where the coats came from, and we don't want them to. We never want to embarrass someone or bring attention to their misfortune.

Next week, Part 2: the free service we offer that almost nobody uses, and why our regulars love it anyway.