By Ariel Miller
Once a month, parishioners of Cincinnati’s Calvary Church hang out at the City Limits Laundromat with quarters, detergent, and ample time to chat with customers. On Sept. 18, during National Voter Registration Week, the Calvary team brought up the vital importance of voting this year and offered to help people register.
They are a local team for Laundry Love, a nationwide nonprofit which partners with local laundromats and volunteers to create community with and affirm the dignity of people who are struggling financially.
“To me, this is about Beloved Community. If we’re going to repair the breach, we have to build relationship first,” says the Rev. Allison English, Calvary’s rector. “We have two hours to build community” while people are washing and drying their clothes.
Interestingly, no one registered during the session on Sept. 18th. “People were reticent to engage around voting, but it opened up the conversation,” English says. “I think there’s actually a fear factor around voter registration, but when we’d known the family for more than one session of Laundry Love, there was more openness.”
While waiting for the cycles to get done, “people often want to pray,” English reports. “Sometimes the guests are better at praying extemporaneously than the parishioners! People want to talk about housing: some are homeless and asking ‘where am I going to live?'” With the laundromat near the University of Cincinnati, “students come to do their laundry and share their worries about how to afford living expenses and going to school. People have a lot of health crises, across the board. One neighbor had an infant who died,” English adds.
Calvary has been teaming up with volunteers from Clifton United Methodist to get to know neighbors at the laundromat. The parish has a team of 8-12 Laundry Love volunteers ranging “everywhere from six years old to 86,” English adds. On a typical day, the church volunteers will provide quarters and supplies for 30-50 households to do their laundry, and offer other useful items like hygiene products and diapers.
Calvary’s volunteers decided to add voting to the Laundry Love discussions this year. “Especially with Issue 1 [the Citizens Not Politicians amendment to stop gerrymandering], we felt it was very important for all voices to be heard: for people to know what their rights are and to be connected with the resources they need to be able to vote and have their vote count,” says Calvary’s rector.
“A parishioner brought the need for redistricting reform to our attention over a year ago,” she explains. “We started talking about going door to door to get out the vote. We feel everyone should have access to fair districts and the chance to have their vote make a difference.”
With Oct. 7 the deadline for Ohio voters to register or update their registration before the Nov. 5 election, the September 18 session of Laundry Love was a perfect time to inform people on the deadline and offer help if they wanted to register. “Laundry Love is about leveling the playing field,” says Allison, “so what better place to talk about voter registration?”
Ohioans can easily check their registration at this link. The Ohio Secretary of State provides links to register or update registration at voteohio.gov.
