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The light flicked on for Kelli Graham during a talk with a friend, a Fort Worth ISD middle school teacher who knew of a student being bullied because she couldn’t afford to wear clean clothes.“I couldn’t get it out of my head,” Graham said. “Nobody would sit with her because of the way she smelled. You can get help with food, you can get help with rent, utilities. How do you get clean clothes?”Out of that idea, Graham founded Laundry Love Fort Worth seven years ago, a small-but-fast-growing nonprofit with a simple mission: Help clients feel better about themselves.The organization, which Graham started with fellow parishioners from St. Christopher’s Episcopal Church in Fort Worth, estimates it has picked up the tab for 79 tons of wash and dry for people in need at monthly events since launching.Laundry Love Fort Worth is an affiliate of a national organization by the same name, founded in 2002 and in 287 laundromats nationally, including ones run by other affiliates in Granbury, Lewisville and Little Elm. The national organization coached Graham, who then found willing laundromats and financial donors and recruited  volunteers.Arneris Cannon does her laundry at Turbo Laundry, Saturday April 19, 2025, in southwest Fort Worth. (Scott Nishimura | Fort Worth Report)After starting with one laundromat, Laundry Love moved two years ago to Turbo Laundry, 6209 Granbury Road; began holding events last fall at Loyal Laundry at 7948 Camp Bowie West Blvd.; and is looking to begin the service at a laundromat the Loyal partners now have under construction on Fort Worth’s Northside.“I’ve never thought about what it’s like to have clean clothes,” Graham said during an interview at Turbo. “Nobody thinks about it.”Graham’s work earned her recognition in 52 Faces of Community, Fort Worth Report’s weekly series highlighting unsung heroes.““Her compassion for people is infectious. She genuinely cares about the person walking through the door. You see it in the volunteers. They all catch on real quick.”Matt Hamilton, partner, Loyal LaundryWelcome to 52 Faces

52 Faces of Community is a Fort Worth Report weekly series spotlighting local unsung heroes. It is sponsored by Central Market, H-E-B and JPS Health Network.

At the end of the year, these rarely recognized heroes will gather for a luncheon where the Report will announce one honoree to represent Tarrant County at the Jefferson Awards in Washington, D.C.Know an unsung hero in Tarrant County?

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Nominate an unsung hero“Her compassion for people is infectious,” Matt Hamilton, partner in Loyal Laundry , said in an interview. “She genuinely cares about the person walking through the door. You see it in the volunteers. They all catch on real quick.”One of the organization’s fervent supporters: the Junior League of Fort Worth, which awarded Laundry Love a grant and volunteer support when it first applied — unusual for the Junior League, which typically commits volunteers to organizations it supports before giving financially.Cara Hardin, the Junior League’s 2024-25 community vice president, recalls Graham’s first application and subsequent presentation two years ago. “They asked for $10,000; we gave them $20,000,” Hardin said. “We saw the need was growing so quickly, they needed a second location. It’s very unusual for an agency to make such a strong case for themselves.”The league renewed its support of Laundry Love for a second year in June, this time with volunteers but no cash, as the league directed its tight budget to other charities. The league’s volunteers help run Laundry Love’s Saturday events.The Junior League committed 12 volunteers for the 2024-25 year, which ends June 1, plus the grant. The league has committed eight volunteers for the second year.“We love them, and we want to keep the partnership,” Hardin said. Laundry Love has been a hit among volunteers, she said.“Every person (who has served during a Saturday event) has fallen in love with the organization, and I think a lot of them support the mission even outside Junior League,” she said.Veronica Payne, center, with son Chase, left, and Payne’s sister Bree, trooped to the April 19, 2025 Laundry Love event at Turbo Laundry in southwest Fort Worth with bedding and clothing. Payne said she has used the service for five months, mostly for bedding and to augment the wash she does at home. “It helps, it really does,” said Payne, a single mom who works at a fast food restaurant. “Just to keep our blankets clean. And saving on laundry soap is a huge win.” (Scott Nishimura | Fort Worth Report)After learning of the middle school student who was being shunned, Graham, who served on the St. Christopher’s vestry at the time, launched into research and quickly discovered the national organization of Laundry Love. Graham secured her church’s financial support, met with the national organization’s coaches, and set out to find a willing laundromat owner.“That’s a big, big part of it,” she said.Laundry Love Fort Worth typically serves 40-50 families during its four-hour events, which cost the organization $2,000-$2,500 apiece to put on, including laundry charges, Graham estimated.Graham first teamed with a laundromat near TCU before moving to Turbo, with its better machines and agreement with the owner, who gives 20% of the gross to Laundry Love. Loyal — owned by the group that also is opening the Northside location that Laundry Love wants to enter — gives 30% of the gross to the nonprofit, Graham said.Jeanneane Keene, left, and Margaret Mieuli, volunteers with St. Christopher’s Episcopal Church in Fort Worth, prepare hot dogs for Laundry Love clients at Turbo Laundry, Saturday April 19, 2025, in Fort Worth. St. Christopher’s parishioners of 50 and 65 years, the two have volunteered with Laundry Love since its start seven years ago in Fort Worth. At the Turbo event, they manned a table with free hot dogs, chips, cheese sticks, bananas and clementines and Oreos. “There are people who come in and eat two hot dogs by 7:30,” Mieuli said. “They come in hungry, really hungry. What we do provides some nourishment, some fun.” Mieuli and Keene view their service as helping meet their baptismal covenant. “It’s just essential, our baptismal promise that we treat every individual with dignity. That’s just what this is.” (Scott Nishimura | Fort Worth Report)Laundry events run 7-11 a.m. once a month at each of the laundromats, with clients permitted to sign up for the service once a month.Volunteers activate the washers and dryers for clients by a card system at Turbo and mobile app at Loyal, and hand out free detergent, bleach and fabric softener. Other volunteers staff food and children’s crafts tables.The friendly atmosphere Graham has fostered has even helped generate new friendships among clients, those who attend events say.At the April 19 monthly event at Turbo, Arneris Cannon, 38, a warranty claims adjudicator for a furniture company, arrived promptly at 7 a.m. with five of her 11 children. They carried several baskets and a large mesh-and-polyester dog kennel full of laundry, and a stuffed pink bunny that went into the wash.The children alternately hovered at the crafts table and helped their mother do the laundry in Turbo’s gleaming, modern washers and dryers. Rain dampened attendance at the early hour somewhat, but Turbo was still abuzz.“Ariel, don’t put white clothes in there” with the colors, her mother instructed as Ariel helped load a washing machine.“It’s not white,” Ariel responded, holding up an off-white garment.Laundry Love Fort Worth’s Impact

Volunteer hours: 2,187

Households helped: 722

People helped: 2,596

Tons of laundry done: 79Cannon, a transplanted Floridian who lives near Interstate 35W and Risinger Road in south Fort Worth, said she has used Laundry Love for a year and a half. Her washer and dryer at home don’t work right now, she said.“It’s a big deal for me,” said Cannon, a single mom who estimated she saves at least $100 per month by using the service.Laundry Love doesn’t approve walk-up applicants on event days. Instead, it prescreens prospective clients before events with questionnaires asking for information on numbers of adults in the household, employment and wages, children and their ages, and whether the family receives food stamps and qualifies for free or reduced-price school lunches. The assessment “is really pretty easy,” Graham, a retired administrative assistant for a major local foundation, said. “If they’re going to food banks, they need help with laundry assistance.”While Laundry Love remains small, its budget is growing quickly. Its budget this year is $93,000 — up from $60,000 and $25,000 the previous two years, Graham said.Laundry Love is now working on a plan for raising $20,000 to start the service on the Northside, having already identified the laundromat. “They want us in there badly,” Graham said. Beyond the money and location, Laundry Love will also need to be able to reliably expand its volunteer base to cover the new operation, she said.“We are working toward that goal, but currently, our highest priorities are to continue to serve the clients that rely on us to provide laundry services to them via (Laundry Love’s) two monthly events,” Graham said.Scott Nishimura is a senior editor for the Documenters program at the Fort Worth Report. Reach him at scott.nishimura@fortworthreport.org.At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.