Angels (or Pirates) of Laundry

13 November 2012Tokoni A, Hope, ‘13

A funny thing about being away from home for the first time is that you notice a lot of things that you took for granted before you left. In my case, one of the biggest of these things was laundry. At home, my mother spoiled me by washing virtually all of my clothes. The only job I had was to toss my clothes into the laundry basket along with all of my worries. I never had to think about finding a time to do laundry or making sure I didn’t mix lights and darks. Mom had it all under control! There was no need to worry.  

Here at Brentwood, I am similarly spoiled.

When my first big pile of dirty laundry appeared and I found that I didn’t have quite enough quarters (or confidence that I wouldn’t ruin all of my clothes) to wash my things, I had no choice but to send my clothes to the mysterious “Laundry Ladies.” One early one morning I journeyed down to the laundry room under Crooks Hall, carrying my overflowing bag of sports clothes, uniforms and paint-splattered shirts.

Upon entering the land of laundry, I was met with a friendly and warm atmosphere. The laundry ladies greeted me kindly, asking my name and asking how I was adjusting to Brentwood life. I felt flattered that they noticed I was new to the school. It was solid proof of how much they look out for the Brentwood students. At the end of the day when I came back to collect my clean things, it warmed my heart to see every article of clothing carefully folded on my own little spot on the laundry shelves, each one labeled with my name.

Mom never did that!

Ms. Chris Nelson, the head of the laundry department, says that they wash twenty 65-pound loads of laundry per day! That’s about 12000 pounds a day. Not only do they wash all of our clothes, they also wash all of the dirty kitchen towels and aprons from every boarding house.

Sally, who does sewing and alterations, makes costumes for performing arts and does alterations on our clothes every single day! Clearly, they are working very hard in order to take care of us.

It’s not easy to be away from home. Along with the natural homesickness we feel, we also miss a lot of the luxuries that come with being with caring, supportive parents. Luckily for us Bentwood kids, we have the laundry ladies who are rays of sunshine no matter what the weather. They laugh, they smile, they wash, fold, press and mend.

They dress up in the best Hallowe’en costumes ever!

Here’s a wholehearted thank-you to our lovely laundry ladies of taking care of us!

Tokoni A, Hope, ‘13