St. Mark offers a no-cost laundry room and no-cost showers for students and families in the North Thurston Public Schools.
Laundry and shower appointments are available weekday mornings and afternoons, Monday evenings and Sunday mornings.
Necessary supplies are provided at no cost for the laundry room and showers. No vouchers or referrals are needed.
If you would like to make an appointment for the laundry room or shower facility, please call or text 360-628-3807 or email ck@stmarklacey.org
Same day appointments may not be available. We will ask for your name, contact information and number of people for the showers. If you reach the answering machine, leave your name and phone number and your call will be returned as soon as possible. We will schedule you when we have an open time slot and an available volunteer.
Laundry appointments are for a three-hour block of time, and you need to remain on church property while you are washing your clothes.
The length of a shower appointment is approximately 30 minutes but varies depending on the number of people. We have two separate shower rooms.
If they are both available, you can use the shower facility and laundry room at the same time.
We are located at 2109 College Street SE in Lacey, WA (across College Street from Mountain View Elementary School). Intercity Transit Bus Route 64 stops in front of the church. Our Clean Kids Showers and Laundry are located at the back of our church Education building and have a discreet side entrance.
If you are interested in becoming a Clean Kids volunteer, please call the Clean Kids phone 360-628-3807 or email ck@stmarklacey.org. We will schedule you based on your availability and our open shifts. We also need volunteers willing to fill in as substitutes. St. Mark policy requires all our volunteers to complete and pass a background check.
If you want to support the Clean Kids ministry by donating supplies, please call the church office at 360-491-2052 to coordinate dropping off any supplies. Supply needs are listed below.
- LAUNDRY: HE laundry liquid soap, HE liquid fabric softener, white vinegar (gallon sized jugs), 33-gallon drawstring garbage bags, paper towels, liquid Oxyclean, Odo Ban disinfectant (for deodorizing urine odors), Lysol or Clorox wipes, Bounce dryer sheets or new clean rags.
- PANTRY: bottled water, individually wrapped nutritional snacks, microwave popcorn, or Individual juices
- CLOTHING CLOSET: new socks and new underwear for children, women, and men.
- Our shower facility is currently well equipped with supplies.
If you wish to give a financial gift to our Clean Kids ministry, you may use the **Online Giving** button on our home page and designate your gift for Clean Kids. Or you may write a check to “St. Mark Lutheran Church” with “Clean Kids” on the notation line. Checks may be dropped off or sent to the church office at: St. Mark Lutheran Church, 2109 College Street, Lacey, WA 98503. Any monetary donations for Clean Kids will be used to purchase necessary supplies.
Why do we offer this? St. Mark Lutheran Church believes children matter. We desire to support the children in our community. “Clean Kids” is a ministry of our congregation offering laundry and shower facilities at no cost for North Thurston Public Schools (NTPS) students and their families who are in need. If children have clean clothes and clean bodies, they feel better about themselves. This confidence will encourage them as they learn in their classrooms. Our laundry and shower rooms also meet a basic need family are experiencing in our community.
This ministry developed in 2016 during a conversation with the NTPS Homeless Liaison who told us that 1 in 20 students in our school district were homeless. After housing, the number 2 need of these families who do not have secure and permanent housing is a place to do laundry. The lack of access to laundry facilities negatively impacts children’s learning because they feel embarrassed by wearing dirty clothes and are often teased by their peers. Therefore, their self-esteem, their school attendance, and their education suffer.
Through generous grants from the North Thurston Education Foundation, Lacey Rotary, Altrusa, congregational members, and members of our community along with the labor of church members and the professional skill and generosity of local contractors, a Sunday School room was transformed, and the Clean Kids Laundry Facility was established in the Fall of 2017. (We are extremely grateful to McKinney’s Appliances who donated our initial laundry machines).
Our laundry room is now equipped with three commercial capacity washers and four commercial capacity dryers. Laundry supplies are provided at no cost for our guests. St. Mark staffs the facility with members of the congregation and members of the community who greet and accompany families while they do their laundry. Inside the Clean Kids Laundry Facility, we stock a small pantry with some healthy snacks and a limited closet with a few basic new clothing items (socks and underwear).
The shower facility grew out of our laundry program. Through generous donations from church members and friends, a grant from the North Thurston Education Foundation, and the fine work of local contractor Darren Ahlf and church volunteers, our showers were completed in the Fall of 2022. We have two separate shower rooms.
We are delighted to be able to offer students and families in our school district a safe, private place to do their laundry and shower.
Photos of the Clean Kids Shower Rooms:
Photos of the St. Mark Clean Kids Laundry Facility:
