Fort Scott Washateria is a family business that was opened in September 2019 by Carol Oakleaf, her daughter Lori Lovelace, son-in-law Leroy Walker, and her son, Doug Oakleaf.
“As a part of our community outreach we have partnered with Community Health Center of Southeast Kansas, Healthy Bourbon County Team, and COPE to have Wash Wednesdays starting November 1st,” Lovelace said.
Communities Organizing to Promote Equity (COPE) is a project of the Department of Family Medicine & Community Health, Kansas University School of Medicine. To learn more: [email protected].
Each Wednesday, starting Nov. 1, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. a limited number of washers and dryers will be available for free.
Lovelace is the managing member overseeing business operations.
“As part of our business goals in Fort Scott we provide services for the community including the Fort Scott Community Closet which collects clothing and bedding donations from the community and we store and distribute them to people who need them,” Lovelace said.
On November 1, the Washateria will have a new community service, Wash Wednesday, offering one free cycle of washing and one free cycle of drying to a family, two times a month, Lovelace said.
The Washateria will provide the laundry detergent and dryer sheets for this program, she said.
In addition, on Wednesdays, Lovelace will make sure the Community Clothes Closet is open for those who may need clothing or bedding.
The normal hours for the closet is Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. “People must come in and sign in to have access to the closet while their stuff is washing,” she said.
The guidelines for Wash Wednesday:
The 22lb washers hold the equivalent of 2 loads of a home top-loader, 1 load per family.
However, people will not wash comforters, blankets, large mattress pads, etc, because those bulky items do not spin out well in the small machines and won’t dry in one dryer cycle.
“We request that this free service be utilized only two times per month for each customer so that the maximum number of folks can use the free machines,” Lovelace said. “We will have a sign-in sheet to keep track. The same family can only come two times a month.”
“Laundry customers must stay with their laundry and transfer their clothes to the dryer, our transfer service is not available as we have to move quickly to keep the machines going,” she said.
About Washateria
“We are a public laundromat and we do wash/dry/fold services for the public as well as commercial laundry,” she said. ” We also provide custom services such as starch/press and steaming.”
The Washateria is staffed, and open 8 a.m.-8 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 12 p.m.-8 p.m. on Sunday.
“Customer service is of utmost importance to us and we happily help folks who come in with any questions and help with the machines,” she said. “We have state-of-the-art Speed Queen commercial washers and dryers in a variety of size loads, 4 loads, 6 loads, and 8 load washers and small, medium, and large dryers, the dryers are sized for our machines. Our machines take quarters as well as debit/credit cards and we have a loyalty card that provides a discount when it is loaded to be used in the machines.”
Fort Scott Washateria is located at 501 S National Ave on the corner of 5th and National. For more information: 620-644-9834, email: [email protected]
