A pick-up, drop-off laundry service for people experiencing hardship will be extended to Caloundra.
Megan Collins from Orange Sky said the service would begin at Caloundra House as soon as there were enough volunteers.
The pick-up, drop-off service is Orange Sky’s response to the washing needs of people now staying in motels and other relief accommodation during the housing crisis.
Ms Collins said the service began last October after a request to help people being put up in a Brisbane motel that had little or no laundry facilities.
“There was a high need at a motel. We didn’t have the capacity in our mobile service,” she said.
Ms Collins said the pick-up, drop-off service had expanded to now cover seven complexes in Brisbane and Ipswich, with three more to be added soon in Toowoomba, plus Caloundra.
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Caloundra House occupies a former aged care home and provides support accommodation for about 30 people.
Ms Collins said 20 to 30 people were staying at some locations while there were more than 100 adults and children at others, with their stays often covered by housing relief funding.
She said the pick-up, drop-off service relied upon volunteers to pick up the washing in bags, take them to be washed at a laundromat, then return the bags of clean washing.
Ms Collins said the service used local laundromats by arrangement with the business owners.
Some of the volunteers stayed behind with the residents while others took the washing to the laundromat, she said.
“It’s included as part of our policy with our activities on-site that we establish a relationship while providing services there and then,” she said.
“It’s something that our mobile service does and it’s something we’ll be doing, too.”
Ms Collins hopes to organise two shifts of about 15 people to handle the pick-up, drop-off service for Caloundra House.
She anticipated each shift would run from 9am to noon on Saturday and Sunday.
Orange Sky’s mobile laundry service, involving vans with washing machines visiting locations, would continue to operate, she said.
A van called Mikey travels to locations between Noosa and Caloundra where people doing it tough bring their washing.
“We definitely still do that as a model and that is at the core of what we do,” Ms Collins said.
“Mikey will still do the run to the Sunshine Coast.”
To find out more about volunteering for the pick-up, drop-off service, email megan.collins@orangesky.org.au.
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