Plenty of churches and pantries across the Alle-Kiski Valley offer closets where people can pick up free coats, pants and shirts.

The Rev. Felicia Brock, pastor at First Baptist Church of Tarentum, is taking it a step further.

“When we were thinking about what we can do to help the community, we thought, “What are people doing to keep those clothes clean?” she said.

The church along East Third Avenue offers a free laundry closet the fourth Sunday of the month, doling out detergent, bleach and stain sticks.

“It doesn’t matter to us who you are,” Brock said. “We just want you to show up if you need something.

“This is the stuff that makes life a little better for everyone.”

Hygiene poverty, or difficulty affording household items, affects one in three families, according to provisionpromise.org.

Dirty clothes can be a barrier to school attendance, employment and self-esteem.

According to nonprofit Feeding America, a nationwide network of food pantries, 74% of low-income families who can’t afford household necessities regularly skip doing the laundry.

If forced to choose, 63% will wash their children’s clothes rather than their own.

Karen Snair, executive director of Allegheny Valley Association of Churches in Harrison, said the laundry closet is wonderfully innovative.

Her group runs a free store called The Sparrow’s Nest from its facility along Freeport Road. Shoppers can find clothes and other donated items like appliances and shoes without handing over any cash.

“Laundry products are one of the most requested items at AVAC after food and diapers,” Snair said.

Those items are expensive, she said, and are not able to be purchased with government assistance, or SNAP, benefits.

According to the Care Counts laundry program by washing machine maker Whirlpool, dirty clothes can stunt school success.

Since 2015, Whirlpool has provided access to washing machines in high-poverty schools across the country.

In 2019-20, nearly 75% of participating elementary students who had been chronically absent had good attendance once they could get laundry done in school, according to the website.

“When students lack basic necessities like food, shelter, clean clothes or hygiene products, anxieties about access to basic needs impact their ability to focus, regulate emotions and control behavior impulses,” psychologist Richard Rende said in the Whirlpool report.

At the laundry closet in Tarentum, shelves are stocked with small bottles of detergent, fabric softener, dryer sheets and more. A sticker is attached to every bottle, reminding people that the church is there for them.

Containers are enough to wash about eight loads of laundry. Brock said the sizes are intentional because so many people access the pantry on foot.

People can pick their preference of name-brand items including Tide, Gain and Clorox.

“We want them to shop with dignity and make choices as if they’re at the store,” Brock said.

The initial stock was paid by a grant from the American Baptist Churches of Pennsylvania and Delaware. Future purchases will come from the church’s ministry budget and donations from the congregation, which has about 25 people turning out for Sunday worship.

Brock said the distribution is scheduled on “Donut Sundays,” making it less of a pantry-feel and more like breakfast with friends.

“It’s all done in the same space. People are greeted and spoken to with respect,” she said.

“No matter how big or small the church is, we’ll be doing something to touch the lives of people.”

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