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Enjoy this 30-minute broadcast of Founder & Owner Christy Moore and The Nonprofit Show Co-Host Julia Patrick. It was crAZy fun chatting about all things purpose-driven at #socialspinaz, where we promise to #washwithcare!

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Laundromats That Do More Than Clean from American Nonprofit Academy on Vimeo.

One would not think they could find dignity, connections, and empowerment while doing the laundry. A ‘Purpose Driven’ laundromat designed to serve as more than a laundry is putting an innovative ‘Social Spin’ on community service. and finding success in helping others.

This is a recent episode of The Nonprofit Show –the Nation’s daily live streaming broadcast where the Nonprofit Community comes together. Each weekday the hosts and their guests cover current relevant nonprofit topics with fresh ideas to help your nonprofit achieve its mission, vision, and values.

To volunteer is to offer oneself: time, heart, energy: to enrich a vision that uplifts us all. Volunteering is an action to strengthen community and cause. As a gardening term, a volunteer is a seed carried by a bird and the wind to an unplanned destination. It is a wild act of kindness committed by a finch. Sometimes a volunteer finds a place with the right amount of sunlight, enough water, air and space to root and bloom. When a volunteer finds a space like this, there’s no telling what magic will grow. A seed becomes a tree, becomes the shade for a garden, becomes the food within the community, becomes the health of the future.

Glynda found herself in Phoenix by way of an enormous silver bird. She thought she was moving to Arizona to buy a house with her partner, but when the relationship went south, she was left with two weeks to find housing in a state where she didn’t know anyone. For the first time in her sixty plus years on earth she had nowhere to go and no plan to get there. She thought she was going to be homeless and panicked without the support of a community.

Eventually, Glynda transitioned into an apartment that worked with her set of variables. The complex provided an on-site laundromat, but it was too expensive. There were several laundromats nearby, said Google and Yelp. Social Spin had five stars, so in walked Glynda.

Glynda’s whole face is a smile as she tells the writer about her first time visiting Social Spin.

“During my first foray I went in and got some change and the machine kept my money. It gave me some, but not all. There wasn’t an attendant, so I thought, let me come back tomorrow morning, so I did, and Christy was there. She was so friendly. She made me feel so comfortable at the time and we just got to chatting. I’m retired. I’m used to volunteering at the GLBT center back in Colorado. Christy mentioned something about volunteering and my ears perked up, I’ve been here ever since.”

Sometimes you volunteer for a person who has a vision that includes the entire community. You become folded into the process of realizing and revising the vision as it grows. Glynda is as permanent a fixture at Social Spin as I am. We’ve committed to showing up to help folx who are often forgotten. Our Free Wednesday Wash and Fold days are run by volunteers: either teams from organizations such as The Junior League of Phoenix or individuals like Glynda and our own in-house DJ Jack. Glynda and Jack support Social Spin by greeting guests and playing music during Free Wednesday Wash & Fold services.

Glynda reports, “I come from 9-12. We offer two free washes and two free drys. People come in and if they don’t know what’s going on, I explain the free washes. The only thing we ask from them is their name to track how many homeless people we are helping. I chat with them. A lot of them know my name.”

Imagine how it must feel when people come in for the first time. They may even think they’re getting punk’d when they take in the bright blue bubbles on the walls, bilingual signs and stocked bookshelves. Free snacks always make them do a double take. It almost seems like the space was intentionally designed to welcome and acknowledge people.

“Sometimes if you just show people you care it really makes a difference, so I ask about how they’re doing and are they keeping cool or just about their lives. Some come in here and it’s a sticky point to ask if someone’s homeless, but there’s no judgement, it’s just for statistical purposes to keep tack. They seem apologetic, I let them know I’m not judging at all, I’m just asking because there are resources here for them,” Glynda explains to the writer, who sits on me cross-legged listening.

“There are so many places you can volunteer for though, why do you return to Social Spin?” writer asks.

“Christy,” Glynda says and her eyes tear up.

“She’s a magnet, isn’t she?” her eyes tear up, too.

“She is. She has such a big heart. To see these people who have nothing, 2.50 is not a lot, but to them it’s a lot. To think I’m part of something of that nature touches me. Christy just makes you feel so warm and loved. Even when we’re just busy, busy, busy, she still takes the time to make you think you’re important, no matter what is going on. No matter what, I’ve got you. You know, all we’re looking for is some place to come to to feel safe.”

We all are, but especially the marginalized among us and as an LGBTQ woman of color, Glynda is used to living in those margins. Who would ever think the local laundromat would become that hub for so many people?

DJ Jack returns because he feels the same way about Social Spin: it’s a place he can belong to. He shows up with his Bluetooth speaker every second Wednesday of the month and takes music requests during free wash & fold time. He curates his own playlists at home: upbeat, something to make you dance while I free your blankets from dog hair and jostle the BO out of your t-shirt armpits.

DJ Jack found Social Spin while in pursuit of a new laundromat. He showed up while the volunteer crew helped remodel, so he arrived when it still felt and smelled like an old gym locker.

“Do you mind if I play music?” he asked Chisty. Soon, the volunteers were dancing to Rihanna and Prince while they transformed Social Spin into the bright, beautiful space it was destined to become.

The joy of fresh laundry is worthy of dance moves. DJ Jack asked Christy if he could come back to play music for other people while they washed and folded their own laundry.

“We decided on every second Wednesday of the month and Christy is even putting word out to other people telling them that I’m available if they want my services. I actually have an event coming up now because of it.”

In between tracks, DJ Jack helps customers bring in their clothes. “I just like being nice to people and helping them anyway I can,” he says. Glynda and Jack return to volunteer for Social Spin because it’s that type of seed in our community. It’s something you want to watch grow. It is the Moringa tree of businesses: every part of it functions on some wholesome level for a greater purpose. Its leaves are edible. Its pods purify water. It can be medicine and food. It doesn’t require a lot to grow, just the right conditions and support. Once it gets going, it will feed everyone.

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M.D. Leto lives near the Lower Salt River with a rescue dog named Charlie, four chickens, her wife and several experimental gardens. She holds an MFA from Northern Arizona University and writes narratives to change the world. She is a frequent contributor to the Javelina Co blog and is sometimes invited to read her poetry and essays in public spaces.

Want to read more about Social Spin? Visit our homepage!

To most people, I’m a bit rugged. My settings are basic. I offer simple instructions, so you don’t get overwhelmed by temperatures or forget to close the door. I take the worst of it and make it better, without complaining, just a signal that what was dirty here is clean again, and I’m ready for whoever’s next. Trust me with your stories; I won’t judge your stains.

*

Throughout the night, it’s cold and lonely here. Sometimes people don’t realize how cold it gets when you’re alone. Sunrise means the vibration of footsteps, cars and carts making their way through Social Spin’s parking lot. When Christy arrives, I get a pat like I’m her old friend or dog, before she rests the morning’s muffins and box of coffee down. My favorite part of the day begins: people coming in to push my buttons! They warm me up, make me dance, take me to my happy place.

They don’t have to tell me where they’ve been; stuff falls out of their pockets. A lighter can say a lot about where a person is, so can endless loose change, and a photograph kept in the sole of a young man’s shoe to remind him where home is when he’s living in an alley. My favorite thing to wash is a person’s sleeping bag, because they tend to leave behind the aftertaste of mesquite and soil. 

Chris opens me up and stares me in the drum. He has a slight sway early this morning. He came back. Coming back is great. He’s looking at me like my massive force isn’t enough to clean what he came with. He doubts the power of my spin.

“Where’s the bleach?”  he asks our Social Work Intern, Vince. 

“No bleach, today,” Vince says,

Here comes Christy. Maybe you can’t tell her footsteps, but I feel them in my drum. “Good morning! You know, Chris, we’re out of bleach today, so we’ll use vinegar to help keep your whites white. Ok?” she’s off: mission. 

Yes, you can be barefoot while these grey sneakers spin white again, toss them in! No one will yell at you. If they do, they must not know what it’s like be barefoot while cleaning their one and only pair of shoes. I’ll do my best to hold them together while they’re coming apart. Don’t worry about the vinegar, it’ll do the trick and you won’t smell like salad dressing.

Chris asks a lady, “Can you buy me a cup of coffee? Sometimes people don’t let me in places if I don’t have shoes on.”

“Sure,” she says, “Do you get kicked out of places a lot?”

“Oh, yeah,” he says, shaking his head a vigorous ‘yes.’ His footsteps are much softer without shoes, as they walk through the front door and head to the donut shop. I stay behind, tossing pebbles out of tread and soles. 

While they are gone, a social worker from Native American Connections comes by to talk to Chris and stays, talking to other folx in the laundromat, asking their stories about where they’re living and how they’re getting by and what they need right now to live, while getting to a healthier, safer space.

Native American Connections provides services that improve individual and family lives “through Native American culturally appropriate behavioral health, affordable housing, and community development services.” A truly great resource seems to be one that understands the web of community and how one thing/resource/need is usually connected to many others. Today, Chris may become one of the 10,000+ people they serve in Central Phoenix this year. 

When Chris and the woman return, he has two coffee cups in his hands. He tells her, “I call Christy my street mom because she’s always looking out and making sure we got some help if we’re ready for it,” just as Christy walks up to let him know the social worker is there. 

“Thanks for the coffee,” he says and follows the social worker out front for a conversation.

The lady with the coffee asks Christy, “Do you have any resources for someone who is dealing with addiction and facing a housing crisis?”

“You know what? We’re meeting this week with Sonoran Prevention Works. To my knowledge, they’re the only ones who will work with you without requiring detox before services. Let me get you a number,” she always has a number.

I don’t know if Chris took the resources he was introduced to, but he left with clean shoes. I learned that Sonoran Prevention Works is an advocate working, “To end health disparities faced by those made vulnerable by drug use & other high-risk behaviors in Arizona through harm reduction focused education, advocacy and evidence-based programming.”

Like Christy and the entire Social Spin team, they meet people where they are without judgement. They don’t turn them away because they only have one pair of shoes. Social Spin know that being human is a complex job that requires skills, health care, education and resources, and know that not all people are taught those things. Social Spin work together, building community partnerships, to reach people faster. 

Believe me, I know. More than what falls from a person’s pockets during the rinse cycle, I filter their blood, sweat and tears from every load.

*

M.D. Leto lives near the Lower Salt River with a rescue dog named Charlie, four chickens, her wife and several experimental gardens. She holds an MFA from Northern Arizona University and writes narratives to change the world. She is a frequent contributor to the Javelina Co blog and is sometimes invited to read her poetry and essays in public spaces.

Want to read more about Social Spin? Visit our homepage!

To most people, I’m a bit rugged. My settings are basic. I offer simple instructions, so you don’t get overwhelmed by temperatures or forget to close the door. I take the worst of it and make it better, without complaining, just a signal that what was dirty here is clean again, and I’m ready for whoever’s next. Trust me with your story; I won’t judge your stains.

*

April looked me in the drum for a moment before dropping in cotton boxers with chili peppers on them. I could tell immediately that they belonged to a teenager. She spent a few hours with me. Her clothes were as cold as I am when I’m not being of use, like maybe they are kept in a car instead of drawers or closets. They were filled with the stains of a high school cafeteria, the dirt of an old dog, days of getting up and getting through, a hint of gasoline and the grease of available foods.

Her dog leaned into me for support as he lay on the ground. She folded blankets over him and stacked thinning cotton pajama pants on top of me while I spun her t-shirts. She was patient and never complained, but sometimes sighed and leaned against me, like her pup, when there was a moment to rest before carrying on. I could tell by how long she needed to stay, that she wouldn’t be back for a while.

She was grateful, because I felt the vibration of her repeating “Thank you,” every time a volunteer handed her four quarters, which she gave to me; they were warm from passing from one person’s pocket to another’s palm.

I don’t know what it’s like to not belong to a place. I’m always here. Someone turns the lights on and off. The water running through me is clean. There’s always soap. I’m warm when I need to be warm and cool when I need to be cool. People are nice to me. Is it the same for you?

*

Please educate yourself about homelessness in your area, so you can make a difference. It can be as small and as big as knowing what resources are available and not being afraid to ask someone’s story, instead of assuming it.

Social Spin Laundromat – Central Phoenix provides free wash & dry services every Wednesday, from 9:00 am – noon. The first 8 people are served, thanks to our friends at Arizona Friends of Homeless. If you’re interested in sponsoring a load or two for our laundromat customers, please contact Social Spin, Inc. Founder & Owner Christy Moore.

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M.D. Leto lives near the Lower Salt River with a rescue dog named Charlie, four chickens, her wife and several experimental gardens. She holds an MFA from Northern Arizona University and writes narratives to change the world. She is a frequent contributor to the Javelina Co blog and is sometimes invited to read her poetry and essays in public spaces.

Interested in learning more about Social Spin? Visit our website!

Volunteer’s Perspective, written by M.D. Leto

When you sign-up for laundry services at Social Spin laundromat or sit down to wait on-site while your jammies are tumbling dry, you are choosing the best laundromat in Central Phoenix to support. Of course, dropping your dirty scrubs and aprons off at Practical Art on Monday and picking them up fresh-scented Thursday is convenient! It’s called Wash & Fold service. It is also called changing the world, one sock at a time. Founder/Owner, Christy Johnson Moore, may call it disrupting the industry, one quarter at a time.

What’s wrong with the laundromat industry? Nothing, if you are OK with locked up toilet paper in the bathrooms, dirty grout, rows of old, metal machines against dingy, gray walls. The sound of a sneaker in a dryer. Creepy, right? Don’t you want to spend your evening there, waiting for sheets to dry? When was the last time you went to the laundromat?

People rely on laundromats because they do not have access to personal washers and dryers. Low-income housing does not always provide access, or convenient access, to on-site laundry machines. Your grandmother’s quilt may be too big for your own washer. Some support laundromats for environmental reasons. No matter the reason you are there, it will take one-two hours to wash, dry and fold your laundry. What type of space do you prefer to wait in?

At Social Spin, Christy wants you to feel comfortable and connected. She considers her laundromat a community asset. She wants you to wash laundry in a space illuminated by brightly colored walls with neon blue and green soap bubbles popping up here and there. She wants you to enjoy the paintings children made and pressed onto the dryers. One sign reads: “Conversation (noun): Oral exchange of sentiments, observations, opinions or ideas.” Every sign on the wall is duplicated and mirrored in Spanish. A large portion of one wall is a chalkboard. Above it is an invitation to engage:

WE WANT TO HAVE A CONVERSATION ABOUT…

Voter registration A Greener Planet Parenting Classes Tutoring

Health Care Checks Public Disability Access Job Training

Volunteering Foster Care Homeless Outreach

This chalkboard is a multi-functional tool Social Spin uses to address needs and provide resources. A response will follow in the form of action and education. Social Spin is a community partner on a mission to connect neighbors to neighbors and neighbors to resources they want and need. Another commitment is to work with opportunity youth by providing up to an 8 week on-site job training at the laundromat. This is made possible through a partnership between Social Spin and Jewish Family & Children Services.

If you Google “Social Spin,” you will come up with tons of videos of Christy Johnson Moore telling stories. One story is about her history in laundromats. One is about how she thought of the name “Social Spin.” In some, she is being interviewed by someone who was made a better leader by her mentorship. If you ask people how they know Christy, you will hear the word “leadership” a lot. You will also hear “social work” or “volunteer.” In fact, Social Spin was renovated through the labor of volunteers no doubt returning support to Christy for some past encounter in which she helped someone feel empowered, united, supported.

*

I went to see if Social Spin was living its story and to volunteer for their first Free Wash & Dry event on July 11. They offered customers 2 free loads of laundry, plus dry time, from 7:30 a.m. until 10:30 a.m. When I walked in at 7, Christy was sweating brow to neckline and pressing her weight against a washing machine, securing a latch and smiling, as usual. She set me to work helping Joe Chavira, an opportunity youth, put up a canopy to shade volunteers from C.A.S.E. (Central Arizonans for a Sustainable Economy) and South Phoenix Healthy Start. C.A.S.E. was there helping people register to vote. South Phoenix Healthy Start is a home visitation program for women who are pregnant and have children up to the age of two. They provide all sorts of classes and services pertaining to early childhood development.

My first task was to separate laundry dropped off by Mike Atanasio, founder of Arizona Friends of Homeless. A monsoon the night before had wet several totes and bags of donations left outside for Mike. We were going to wash, dry, separate and organize the clothes into bags easy for Mike to bring to the park the following day to provide homeless people with fresh, clean clothes.

Did I mention I brought my six-year-old nephew? He separated laundry, was a runner for quarters when one was needed, and loved on the dog outside the laundromat sleeping in the child’s seat of a grocery cart. He colored on the chalkboard and read from the assortment of books in the Social Spin library. Whenever he completed a pile ready for the washer, he brought it to Joe Chavira.

Joe has known Christy and her husband, Mitch, since he was 15-years-old because they volunteered to mentor him through the AASK program when he lived in a group home. Now, he’s recently adopted and a junior in high school.

When it was time to dry and sort clothes, Hanan Dema, was there to assist us. Hanan interns for Christy forty hours a week. She is a psychology student half-way through her Associate’s Degree at Gateway Community College. I asked what she likes about working with Christy.

“She has a master’s degree in social work, so I learn a lot about social work and community involvement. She takes me along to meetings in the community, so I’m learning about agencies. She gives me an understanding of what careers I can go into. I’ve noticed a lot of social workers with different degrees lead more communities and agencies.”

Later, while photographing Social Spin from the front, Pat Bennet walked up carrying paper bags. Pat volunteers with a group called Friends on the Street that serves 100-300 homeless people every Sunday at United UCC Church. She was there donating bagels for the event.

I watched the customers. No one complained when an anonymous woman parked her grocery cart out front and unloaded her plastic bags of clothes. She did not want to give me her name, but she told me she frequented three different laundromats within about a three-mile radius. Social Spin was her favorite because it wasn’t dingy. She felted respected when she was there. While her blanket dried, she read a book and ate bagels.

Social Spin has many plans as a Benefit Corporation focused on fostering human dignity and respect with every customer and community interaction. Live plants, lectures and workshops occupy the same space as Social Spin’s customers in an effort to be a model business and community partner. Most importantly, conversations spark and we all know what happens when people start talking. From word into action, action into transformation.

My favorite interview was with a customer, Linda Ramirez, who has done her laundry at the Social Spin location for two years, long before Christy took over the laundromat.

“How is it different since Christy took over?” I asked.

“Christy is such a nice lady. She’s not only the owner, she’s a friend to everyone in the community and loves all the people and makes everyone feel comfortable. She is here to listen to you. I’ve never seen a laundromat like this. You can read, the kids can play on the chalkboard or read books, you can find information over there on the wall. This lady has opened up her heart and is using it to help everyone. I don’t know if anyone else sees it,” she said, “But I do.”

At that moment, Christy danced from one end of the laundromat to the next to check the clothes in the dryer.

The thing about Social Spin is that, if you ask, you will receive any statistics, research, information you need to show the need for what is provided. People are more than that. You may not “need” a laundry service, but you need Social Spin in your community.

Do you want to learn more about Social Spin? Visit our website!

Learn what Social Spin’s Intern Hanan says about turning 21, and transitioning out of Arizona’s foster care system after a decade.

I was asked the question, “Do you feel ready to be out of the foster care system after a decade?” I wasn’t prepared for this question because I never had the chance to grasp what it really means.

Thinking about my overall time in foster care I was fearful of one thing – instability. I expected to have moved passed that fear by the time I turned 21. Though the reality is that fear is still invested in me. Foster care has provided me countless opportunities to arise from my challenging childhood. It has provided me doors to show resilience and I truly have bounced back from a life full of negative statistics. I’ve been able to create an image in my life that shows I overcame my adversities but the truth of the matter is, I suffer from my childhood trauma each and every day.

Opportunity given to overcome any obstacles is amazing but I do feel the system owes it to us state kids to make sure we are ready to take on opportunity and to ensure we’ve dealt with the obstacles we’ve faced as adolescents. You can help by being a mentor, and what I mean by that is guiding us on life skills and decision making. Understand that many foster youth have been our own moms and dads for a long time and sometimes not in the best way. So, we just need support, guidance and understanding as we become productive adults in society. 

Hanan

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