08/17/2026
"I'm not rich, I'm not poor, but getting clean laundry for free every week helps tremendously with paying for other necessities."
On a recent Tuesday morning in East Hillside, the laundry mat buzzes with activity. People come in with heavy baskets and black plastic bags of dirty clothes from the neighborhood; some rode the bus from miles away, many with kids in tow. Folks laugh and chat with familiar faces as they walk into in a room full enough to run out of available laundry machines. After a bustling few hours, people left the way they came, but with fresh clean laundry and smiles on their faces.
This is a typical day for the local chapter of Laundry Love, a volunteer-run effort to provide no cost laundry to more than 40 low-income households every week at partner sites Spirit Valley Laundry and Maytag Laundry in the East Hillside.
Originally hesitant to come to Laundry Love because "it sounded too good to be true", Royal, who's been utilizing Laundry Love for the past three months, is finally coming to the realization that there really is no catch. "There's fresh cookies and coffee, there's kids' puzzles. Volunteers know me by name. They're so bubbly and helpful and happy doing what they do. A volunteer even hand sews laundry bags for people to keep and carry their laundry. Laundry Love has just done so much good for the community."
When comparing Laundry Love to a big community party, the response was met with a chuckle, and a "You know, it basically is! It's really a community of people you can trust."
Laundry Love not only offers people the dignity of clean clothes; it has grown into a community gathering space where people can connect with neighbors and with other community resources. To learn more about Laundry Love and other projects started by Stepping On Up, as well as how you can support, go to https://steppingonupduluth.org/laundry-love
