A local group has started an initiative to help those affected by Hurricane Sandy normalize their lives through the purchase of laundry cards.
Amy Quinn, Heather Jensen, Jill Potter, Seven Froias, Richard Virgilio, Jeffrey Seeds and Joe Woerner are spearheading the movement to donate laundry cards to Asbury Park residents who are still without power and are starting to see their laundry pile up.
“People in shelters don’t have access to laundry machines,” Quinn said in a phone interview today. “Asbury Park also has a lot of public housing, and a lot of public housing residents do laundry in laundromats.”
The group opted for a laundry card drive instead of a clothing drive because they figured people in Asbury Park did not lose their clothing in the storm.
“We didn’t think people in Asbury Park lost their stuff,” she said. Instead, “they were displaced for a period of time and brought back and probably had to restock their shelves and do their laundry.”
Local laundromats Razzle Dazzle and Busy Bee’s recently reopened after not having power for days, and buying vouchers to use their facilities could help them make up for days of lost profit in addition to helping residents without power, Quinn said. Busy Bee’s laundromat has donated $300 in laundry cards to the cause.
Quinn’s group is requesting that area residents buy laundry cards from local laundromats, and then give them to Interfaith Neighbors for distribution to people who need them.
So far, the group has received $400 in laundry cards after starting the effort just before yesterday’s snowstorm hit, Quinn said. Purchased laundry cards can be dropped at the Conover Agency, located on the corner of Main Street and Cookman Avenue, or at Coastal Habitat for Humanity, 917 Third Ave., both in Asbury Park. Those organizations will deliver the cards to Interfaith Neighbors for distribution, Quinn said.
