Taking cue from pope, Laundry Love spreads kindness, one load at a time

MILWAUKEE, WI - What likely is the world’s most famous laundromat is also relatively new.

The Lavanderia di Papa Francis — or Pope Francis Laundry — opened in the spring of last year in a former hospital near the Vatican.

It was a modest establishment when it opened:  Six washing machines and dryers, as well as an ample supply of detergent and fabric softeners.

But because of what it symbolized, the papal laundromat made news all over the world.

Use of the facility was free and, the Vatican said, designed to serve “the poorest of the poor, particularly the homeless, who will able to wash, dry and iron their clothes and blankets.”

Pope Francis’ advocacy for the world’s poor, unmoored and indigent is admired by many, both Catholic and non. Sure, cleanliness might have some approximation to godliness, but the two, at best, live in the same general area. But godliness’ real neighbor is compassion.

As it would happen, around the same time the pope was opening his laundromat, Doug and Sally Klingler were looking for a way to reach deeper into the Milwaukee community.

In 2015, the Klinglers opened Your Laundry, a laundromat on E. Capitol Drive. By 2017, Doug had heard about and became interested in something called “Laundry Love.”

According to its website, the idea for Laundry Love was born 14 years ago when a homeless man living in Ventura, Calif., was asked what he needed.

“If I had clean clothes,” he said, “I think people would treat me like a human being.”

Laundry Love sites — laundromats that periodically provide free use of their machines to those in need — are opening all over the country. Some are officially associated with the Laundry Love movement,  some are not.

At that very same time the Klinglers were considering setting up a Laundry Love program, Patricia O’Brien, whose eponymous cookie shop is located in downtown Milwaukee, was suggesting Milwaukee Archdiocese Respect Life Urban Ministry do the very same thing.

Pat had heard about it from her daughter-in-law, who had volunteered at a Laundry Love supported by a Presbyterian church in California.

Taking a cue from the pope, the urban ministry staff embraced Pat’s idea. Inevitability or an even higher force led Pat to the Klinglers. They hosted their first Laundry Love in September.

Laundry Love, supported by donations, is held at Your Laundry on the third Monday of every month between 9 a.m. and noon. The last load of wash must get underway by 10:30.

“Lo and behold,” Pat said during a recent Laundry Love event.

Kids dashed around. Volunteers helped people stuff loads of dirty clothes into washers or plop wet ones into dryers.  Cookies and other refreshments had been set out.  It was cold and forbidding outside. Inside, it was warm and welcoming.

Off to one side, sitting on a bright yellow stool, was Laverne Bryson.

Bryson said she became homeless at the end of an abusive relationship. She has an apartment now,  but she hates to leave it.  People frighten her,  she said.

"I've been through a lot," she said.

“I had to take two of my antidepressants just so I could be here. Just to be out."

But there she was: Out.

"This," she said, "is awesome."