OUR FIRST UTW LAUNDRY LOVE HOLLYWOOD
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 12, marked the day of the first monthly Laundry Love Hollywood, organized by UTW, a day where a group of UTW volunteers helps homeless youth with doing their laundry, plus lending a hand and an ear, if wanted …
The days leading up to the event, Matt, Douglas and myself had walked around Hollywood Blvd. and its side streets to hand out fliers to the homeless kids inviting them to Laundry Love and we got a lot of positive reaction. Most of us are spoiled; we have showers, washers and dryers, and it’s hard to imagine a life when none of these things can be taken for granted ….
Thanks to the money raised at this year’s UTW Day and to contributions from generous UTW supporters, we had enough quarters to feed washers and dryers for several hours.
Awesome UTW volunteers had prepared dozens of care bags containing small toiletries like tooth brushes, tooth pastes, soaps, deodorants, wet wipes etc., and somebody had brought brand new underwear and socks to hand out. We also had several bags of used, gently worn t-shirts, shorts and sneakers; and at 2 pm we were ready for the kids to show up.
Ronald “Roaddog” Christensen was the first one to walk into La Fiesta Coin Laundry, the laundromat in the heart of Hollywood where the kind owner Sara had allowed us to have our monthly Laundry Love. Roaddog is one of the people we had met when handing out fliers. Older than the average street kid but one of them, and immediately interested in UTW, so I told him about my vision of having our own building in Hollywood, a safe haven for homeless kids to network, take art and music classes, get a free haircut and even get paid working in our organic garden or t-shirt print shop…
Roaddog’s face lit up when I mentioned my dream of a garden and kitchen, and he told me that he used to be a chef …
The next day, Roaddog sent us an email: “I know a lot of homeless people here in Hollywood and any positive influence you need, I will go the extra mile to spread it for the cause.
I am homeless myself and need to spend my time constructively doing the right thing.
Thank you, peace and love!”
Shortly after Ron filled the first machine, more kids started showing up: Chris; Luis and Marlene, a young couple with their tiny dog Ryder; Doug; Diana and Ozzy, another couple …. We did get to talk a lot, learning about their daily struggles and needs, and we kept the machines going until after 7 pm!
Thank you again to all the awesome volunteers: Kat, Matt, Douglas, Tom, John, Denise, Jennifer, James and the two ambassadors from the Youth Center On Highland!
We are all already looking forward to next month’s Laundry Love Hollywood, Sunday, November 9.
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THE LUCKY WINNERS IN LAST MONTH’S GIVE-AWAY
On September 11, 2014 we celebrated UTW’s 8th anniversary (!!!!), and we had promised the first 5 people sending us a message expressing that they support UTW a free Unfuck The World shirt of their choice. Here are the lucky winners:
1st: Matthew Sosnowski from Astoria, NY 2nd: Michael Mueller from Spokane Valley, WA 3rd: Nate Upton from St. John’s, MI 4th:Brian Loveless from Rohnert Park, CA 5th: Sam Hart from Carrboro, NC
Thank you so very much to everybody else who responded! It is great to see that people actually read the newsletter … 🙂
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SKID ROBOT
New works by our favorite local artist, Skid Robot, photographed on Skid Row in Downtown L.A. You can find more by Skid Robot on Instagram #skidrobot
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What does Unfuck The World mean to you? If you or someone you know are doing something to make this world a little better, please share it with us here https://unfucktheworld.net//share-your-actions/
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For more stories and pictures from the global events on UTW Day 2014, please visit our home page!
