Fort Scott Washateria is a family-owned business that was opened in September 2019 by Carol Oakleaf, her daughter Lori Lovelace, her son-in-law Leroy Walker and her son Doug Oakleaf.
“As part of our community outreach efforts, we're partnering with Southeast Kansas Community Health Center, Healthy Bourbon County Team and COPE to host Wash Wednesdays starting Nov. 1,” Lovelace said.
Starting November 1st, a limited number of washing machines and dryers will be available for free use every Wednesday from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
Mr. Lovelace is the managing member who oversees business operations.
“As part of our business goals in Fort Scott, we provide services to local residents, including the Fort Scott Community Closet, which collects clothing and bedding donations from area residents, stores them and distributes them to those in need,” Lovelace said.
Starting Nov. 1, Washateria will launch a new local service called Wash Wednesday, offering one wash and one dry for free to each family, two times a month, Lovelace said.
Washateria will be providing laundry detergent and dryer sheets for the program, she said.
Additionally, on Wednesdays, Lovelace will ensure the Community Clothing Closet is open for those in need of clothing and bedding.
The closet's regular hours of operation are Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. “You have to come in and sign in to use the closet while your laundry is being washed,” she said.
Wash Wednesday Guidelines:
The 22-pound washer holds the equivalent of two home top-loader loads of laundry (one load per family).
But people don't wash comforters, blankets, large mattress pads, etc. because they don't spin well in smaller machines and don't dry in one dry cycle.
“To ensure maximum availability of the free machines, we are asking that each customer only use this free service twice a month,” Loveless said. “We will provide a sign-in sheet for record keeping, and the same family will only be allowed to come twice a month.”
“Laundry customers have to leave their laundry there and move their clothes to the dryer. Our transportation service is not available because they have to rush to get there to keep the machines running,” she said.
About Washateria
“We're a public laundromat that offers not only commercial laundry but also wash, dry and fold services for the public,” she says, “and we also offer custom services like starching, pressing and steaming.”
Washateria is staffed and open Monday through Saturday from 8am to 8pm and Sunday from 12pm to 8pm.
“Customer service is paramount to us and we are happy to assist any customers with questions or need help repairing their machines,” she said. “We have state-of-the-art Speed Queen commercial washers and dryers in a variety of sizes – 4x, 6x and 8x capacity – small, medium and large dryers, and our dryers are made to fit the size of our machines. Our machines accept quarters and debit/credit cards, and we also have a rewards card that you can top up to use on our machines and receive discounts.”
