It’s washing day twice a week at Capricorn Region Salvos!

BY LAUREN MARTIN

A partnership with Orange Sky Laundry in Rockhampton, Central Queensland, is giving people in need access to free laundry facilities when they attend the Salvos for assistance.

Capricorn Region Corps Officer Major Peter Sutcliffe said Orange Sky approached The Salvation Army at the end of last year about the partnership, and he “jumped at the chance” to provide people in need with access to more services at The Salvation Army’s Rockhampton site.

“We had been seeing a number of people coming into our site wondering where they can get free laundry done,” he said.

Orange Sky Laundry opened this week and will operate on Wednesdays and Fridays while the corps is open as a PAL Connect Site, where community members can come and collect emergency assistance cards and free bread and grocery items donated by the local Woolworths store.

“One woman asked about it,” said Peter on the first day of operation. “She said, ‘I’ve had three things go wrong this week. My shower head broke, then my lawn mower decided it didn’t want to work, and the final straw was that my washing machine packed it in.’ I said, ‘You can come and have your laundry done here for nothing.’ She was thrilled and planned to return. Another gentleman had moved to Rockhampton with nothing and planned to use the service.

Orange Sky provides volunteers to run the laundry pod, which is in a container located in the Capricorn Region Corps carpark. The corps used Red Shield Initiative funding to run water and electricity to the pod so that it can operate safely.

“It’s a partnership, and we need to do more of these sorts of partnerships with other organisations rather than doing everything ourselves,” said Peter.