Loads of Love: Life Skills Through Laundry has kicked off its second round of community outreach after its success in 2019.
The program was started by Kathy Wade, CEO of Learning Through Art, Inc., and Erica Page, a graduate student at the University of Cincinnati. Loads of Love teaches people valuable, sustainable life skills during the time it takes to wash and dry their laundry.
“We’re meeting people where they are to provide sustainable life skills. We keep it simple and meaningful so that when they graduate and participate in the Last Load Ceremony, they feel empowered and ready to manage life’s challenges – including new challenges brought on by the pandemic – in new and different ways,” Wade says in a press release.
For the current session, Loads of Love is broken into two groups of 11. The program begins Feb. 23 and continues every other Tuesday at a laundromat until graduation on June 1.
Participants receive six weeks of free laundry service along with their lessons. For the current session, Loads of Love focuses on families in the Avondale area after receiving a grant from the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center Avondale Partnership & Investment: Capacity Building Grant.
After surveying the community after the 2019 outing, Wade and Page have added new topics to this year’s program, including how to teach kids during the pandemic, preparing for interviews and jobs, and building healthy relationships. Along with these new topics, cooking on a small budget, managing money and stress, and budgeting funds will all be returning.
Wade and Page say that participants in the 2019 program have been able to successfully pay off debt, incorporate exercise into their routines and connect with helpful resources, all while building their confidence.
Wade believes that fostering a sense of community during a pandemic is especially important, and her hope is that through Loads of Love, the heads of households will take the skills back to their families and communities, igniting a ripple effect of sharing valuable life skills.
Loads of Love takes place at the Avondale Town Center Super Laundry at 3545 Reading Road, North Avondale.
For more information about forthcoming events, follow Loads of Love, LLC on Facebook.
This article appears in Feb 1-28, 2021.