DANVILLE, Ill. (WCIA) — The Danville School District has created something new to help out students in need. They’ve built a brand new laundry room inside a school for families who may be experiencing homelessness or other hardships.

The concept was presented to the school board a year ago and they’ve been planning it out ever since. Now, it’s already in use.

The brand new laundromat is right inside Mark Denman Elementary School and is free to use for any family part of the Danville School District.

“We recognize that some of our students have barriers to being able to come to school every day. And one of those that we thought that we could help impact was having clean clothes and and, you know, just helping the families in that way,” Mark Denman Principal Stacie Sollars said.

The laundry room has three combo washer and dryers with free detergent and other products. Officials said there are currently more than 230 students in the district that are experiencing homelessness.

“We have a pretty significant population in each of our school buildings that they’re struggling with some sort of, you know, living with relatives or, you know, just in between their own places,” Sollars said.

The district used a federal grant from the McKinney Vento American Rescue Plan to pay for the facility. Nearly $35,000 went into the project.

Sollars said families have to make an appointment to use the space.

“And we have staff that stay here and help in case there’s any any need for assistance with these high tech machines that we have now,” Sollars said.

Sollars also said this laundry room is something she’s proud of and she knows it’ll be a great resource.

“It was exciting to me that we were able to offer this to some of our families and get our kiddos to school, and them have the confidence while they’re sitting in class and not have to worry about, you know, if their clothes were not clean or if they had a little bit of a smell. It was really nice to be able to feel like I was a part of that,” Sollars said.

To make an appointment families should contact an administrator at their child’s school.
The room also has a resource board inside with different job opportunities listed.