Not-for-profit Orange Sky has expanded into Dunedin with a volunteer-run laundry pod at the Salvation Army’s Crawford St site, which began operating yesterday.
The service is intended to benefit people experiencing homelessness or hardship — encompassing students, pensioners or whānau in overcrowded accommodation or without access to laundry services.
Gary Bingle, of Dunedin, was one of the first to use the pod.
He said it was a positive experience and he appreciated the volunteers and their work.
‘‘These girls here are so good — I’m so proud of them.
‘‘They don’t need to be doing this for us, but they are.’’
He had been homeless for about five years and previously washed clothes in the shower or spent $10 at a laundromat.
For some people this was a tiny cost, but for others it was ‘‘everything’’, he said.
Regular access to laundry services would help people’s health and self-esteem.
Orange Sky co-founder and chief executive Lucas Patchett had travelled from Australia to attend the pod’s opening.
‘‘The welcome from the community has been amazing — that’s from everyone, from the [Dunedin City Council] to people who have helped fund it to volunteers.
‘‘Now it’s about starting to engage with people doing it tough and friends and whānau down here.’’
About a dozen people had volunteered to run the pod, which would operate between 11am and 1.30pm on Thursdays and Saturdays.
