Eight Days of Hope providing storm victims with clean clothes

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) - Something simple like having clean clothes can mean a lot in a disaster, and that’s one resource that a group of volunteers is providing.

Eight Days of Hope is a non-profit organization focused on disaster relief. They arrived in Cedar Rapids last week to help storm victims clear debris, tarp roofs, gut water-damaged homes, and other needs, and now they are providing people with clean clothes. Saturday was the first day they began using their laundry trailer, a unit of eight washers and dryers to help community members with their basic laundry needs.

“We found this is a vital need in the community during a disaster is somebody to be able to have the dignity to have clean clothes to wear around. It’s bad enough you have trees on your house and may or may not be able to live in it and it hot and no air conditioning and it’d nice to just have clean clothes,” said Dan Garrick, Rapid Response Manager.

The laundry trailer will be at St. Mark's United Methodist Church in Cedar Rapids from 8 am to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

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