‘IT’S RIGHT FROM THE HEART’
Making ends meet can be difficult and every little bit of money helps.
That’s why three Island friends organized a free laundry service event for low-income families in May.
They dubbed it Loads of Love.
“People are going through a hard time, things are expensive, so it’s so nice to be able to do something where you’re spreading love and kindness in the community to kind of counter all that,” said Rose Barbour, who organized the event with her friends Roni Power and Emily Howard.
Ellie Trainor was one of 30 volunteers who helped wash and fold clothes at the Fluff ‘n’ Fold laundromat in Charlottetown.
“It’s right from the heart to be able to help,” said Trainor who came with the volunteer group Gifts from the Heart, which helps low-income families.
Laundry was tagged when brought in and then families with children were given passes to PandaFun — an indoor playground — to use while they waited for their clothes to be cleaned, dried and folded.
Barbour, Power, and Howard have been organizing random acts of kindness for the last two years, ever since Howard’s sister Anna started the Random Acts of Kindness campaign in 2016.
When Anna died the next year, the women decided to continue her legacy.
“What she was doing was so important,” said Barbour. “As friends, we look to kind of continue that.” Barbour decided on a free laundry service after seeing a Facebook post by a friend in Ohio who was doing something similar.
Amer Ahmed, the owner of Fluff n’ Fold, said he was happy to share his business for the cause and was thrilled with the turnout for the event.
“I wasn’t expecting this many people to show up and the level of energy and friendship that I’m seeing here is unbelievable,” he said.
After seeing the Island event, Barbour said someone from the Netherlands reached out to say they would do the same thing.
“A lady sent me a message that her uncle in the Netherlands saw our post she had shared and now he’s doing it in his community,” said Barbour.
“Kindness can spread.”