Laundry Love Program Launched at Point Neighborhood Location

July 2021

One year prior to the onset of COVID19, St. Peter’s/San Pedro Episcopal Church of Salem, MA, established a relationship with Fresh Express Laundry Center to launch a Laundry Love program at their Point neighborhood location in the center of the Latino quarter. Each month, volunteers from St. Peter’s/San Pedro would collaborate with Jim Whitmore, owner of Fresh Express Laundry Center, and split the cost of providing laundry services to approximately 25 families per month and over 3,000 pounds of laundry washed and dried in 3 hours!

With social distancing requirements during COVID19, this program had to pause until the pandemic was over. That was until October 2020 when Jim Whitmore approached the parish about restarting the program remotely with prepaid Fresh Express Laundry cards. Jim’s idea was simple and incredibly generous: He would provide prepaid $50 laundry cards for his store that would be replenished once a month for a year. All he asked of the parish was to find families in need who would benefit from the program.

Jim’s idea was a huge relief to many struggling families in Salem. Since then, nearly 50 cards have been distributed to families in need who could barely afford their rent after a job loss due to COVID19, let alone essential laundry services for their families. “The sense of relief on the faces of people who come to our church for help was tremendous,” said The Rev. Nathan Ives, Priest in Charge at St. Peter’s/San Pedro Church. “Jim’s innovative thinking and deep commitment to supporting people in real need during unprecedented times continues to be a true blessing to scores of families in Salem.”

Thanks to Jim Whitmore, Laundry Love at St. Peter’s/San Pedro continues unimpeded by COVID19 and additional families are being added continuously. It is a fine example of Christian love in action in our community. Thank you Jim Whitmore and Fresh Express Laundry Center!