Laundry Day!

We started working on the Lost and Found at Johnstown Elementary, and boy is that a job in itself! It took an entire day to comb through the HUNDREDS of items that were piled in boxes and hung on racks, to determine it any of these items had identifying marking on them. Of those hundreds of items, 9 items had initials, names, or room numbers on them.

Greater Johnstown Elementary School has somewhere between 1,100 to 1,200 students ranging from Kindergarten to 4th grade. There is only 1 elementary school in GJSD and that is a lot of kids under one roof! With that many kids, there are a TON of lost items.

For those who don't know, GJSD is the city of Johnstown's school district. It is one of the largest school districts in Cambria County Pennsylvania. GJSD serves students from the city of Johnstown, parts of Geistown Borough, Lower Yoder Township, Stonycreek Township and West Taylor Township. Within this area, there are 7 low-income housing unit complexes across the City of Johnstown that feed GJSD. To paint a picture of the demographic within the schools, the school's enrollment is considered 99% economically disadvantaged. (usnews.com)

While we do our best to return items from the lost and found, one can understand that with over a thousand students, there is only so much that can be done. The reality is many of these items the end up in lost and found are not worthy of finding their rightful owners. Many of the items have rips, tears, or is stained. Honestly, no one wants it back.

I spent 1 full day looking at every single article of clothing, determining whether it was "worth it" to spend money on attempting to get it clean. Many of the clothing in lost and found had probably never been laundered. It definitely looked and smelled like too. After assessing, compiling piles by article of clothing, we (myself, and teachers Jess, and Bai) whittled it down to 100 hoodies that will be washed today!

It took 4 XL capacity front loading washers to wash 100 kids sized hoodies. FUN FACT: Did you know it costs $5.75 per load to wash and .25 per 7 minutes of dry time? With that said, it is understandable why so many items look as though they have never been washed. The laundry mat is NOT CHEAP! We spent $32.50 for washers and driers! Can you imagine spending that weekly to launder a household worth of clothing? I certainly cannot!

In the end, we rehung the freshly washed hoodies, ready for their person's to come claim them. With the end of the school year coming, any item that is not returned to its owner will be repurposed and distributed in the schools clothing closet.

Our next job to tackle is washing up winter coats! I am absolutely certain we will quadruple our washer usage!

100 Fresh hoodies ready for their owners to find them!