A welcomed blast from the past

We rarely will hear the success stories of our past guests. Our hope is that they have found happiness and held on to their dignity. I had to stop by Fast & Fluffy to drop off supplies for the day’s guests. Janet, the amazing manager of Fast & Fluffy, never fails to fill my heart with happiness as she shares stories of my guests that come in and how thankful they are for our service. I don’t do this for the kudos, but it is nice to know that our service has made someone’s day a little brighter. Yesterday Janet handed me a piece of paper with a past guests’ information on it. She had come in requesting me to call her. What? I was going to get an update from a past guest! On the way home so many questions filled my thoughts. Feeling honored to have a past guest to not only remember Laundry Love Hamilton but to take the time to reached out for me to call was so exciting. Our conversation went amazing! She went from living in her car to having a place to live, a good job and fits in volunteer time to help the homeless! Finally, the much-awaited update I have waited over 2 and half years to hear! My vision when I started Laundry Love Hamilton, was to treat each guest as they were coming into my personal home to do their laundry and have a nonjudgmental conversation over coffee. Our absolute amazing volunteers share the same vision. This guest sang praises for the program and what it meant to her to have had access to our program. She shared that see wants to start a program for the walk in homeless she meets in Missoula. We have a date to meet and discuss her plans to help the homeless she sees. I know offering showers and clean clothes is in the works. She took the phrase “pay it forward” in a direction I could only hope for. Her story will be one I will share with all our donors, my board, and future volunteers.