Ashley Stuver has become very passionate about the power of clean laundry in people’s lives, and she and her husband — Austin FC goalkeeper Brad Stuver — are looking to bring that to Austin.
The Laundry Project is a charity that, according to its current fundraising project page, assists “lower-income families with meeting a basic need – washing clothes and linens, by turning laundromats into community centers of hope.” The project, now in its 14th year, takes donations helping to fund free laundry days for community members, and also enlists volunteers who want to help with the actual laundering.
“My mom had cancer when I was in college,” she said, explaining her personal connection to the charity and its mission. “And so I remember our washing machine breaking down right and we didn't have the money then to afford a new one. So my parents went to the laundromat… and the expense to wash and dry your laundry at a laundromat is so overwhelmingly high, I think people don't realize it.”
She further explains that lower-income families get in Catch-22 situations: They can’t afford to buy or fix washers and dryers to do laundry at home, but then have to choose between a laundromat and other expenses.
“What we do is we help to raise funds that will essentially provide anybody who walks into the laundromat, on the day that we have a project scheduled [there],” she said. “Whoever walks in, gets their laundry washed and dried for free, no questions asked. We also provide laundry detergent, bleach, dryer sheets, anything you really need to do laundry.”
She notes that when they first brought it to Columbus in 2016, while Brad was playing with the Crew, people were surprised and delighted with what it allowed them to do: Get their laundry done without worrying about the cost. “Some people would cry, or some people would hug us, just because it was so unexpected for them,” she noted. “When we first bring it to a city, people don't really know what it is.”
They first connected with the Laundry Project organizers after Brad and Ashley talked about how they wanted to something that directly gives back to the community they were in. They brought it to the Bronx during Brad’s tenure with NYCFC, which ran from 2018 to 2020, and now are aiming for doing the first Laundry Project event in Austin this summer — provided that COVID-19 case numbers allow for that — with hopes to run several during the year, including one at the start of the holiday season.
“I knew Austin was a really special city when Austin FC put out the GoFundMe during the winter snowstorm,” she said, referring to the online fundraising effort that Brad Stuver, Matt Besler, and their new teammates launched while new to town, generating nearly $46,000 which the 4ATX Foundation put toward the Austin Area Urban League’s #LoveTheyNeighborTX campaign providing shelter, food, water, clothing and more to those in need.
“I have never seen that amount of money raised so quickly,” Ashley marveled. “I mean, these guys are essentially strangers to the city of Austin, and everybody was so quick to give. How much everyone wanted to help in that situation was really special.”
Though the Stuvers haven’t had a chance to really get to know Austin yet, they have been able to connect with fans via social media, which is how the Stuvers were able to amplify their work with the Laundry Project.
After The Striker Texas ran a story last week on Austin FC fan Brad Tillery, who has been campaigning online to get the club to release the verde goalkeeper kit he first saw Brad Stuver wear in a preseason match, the Brads had a fun back-and-forth online where the two appeared to be negotiating over getting Tillery a jersey. Tillery mentioned the possibility donating to and volunteering for a cause the Stuvers were invested in, which led Ashley to publicly tweet to her husband, “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”
🤔 @brad_stuver, are you thinking what I’m thinking?
— Ashley (@ashley_stuver) April 13, 2021
That led to the Stuvers going to the platform to talk about the Laundry Project, including a thread Ashley started going into more detail.
A Laundry Project thread for the awesome Austinites! @brad_stuver and I would love to share more with you about the Laundry Project! To start, here is a great piece that was done when we were in NYC: pic.twitter.com/Vv59bpPCXi
— Ashley (@ashley_stuver) April 14, 2021
They might know more of Austinites online than they know Austin as a city as of now, but they do like what they’ve seen so far. Ashley noted that “certain parts of Austin remind me of Cleveland” — where the couple met while students at Cleveland State University — ”certain parts of Austin remind me of Columbus, and even certain parts of the city remind me of spots in New York City, which I think it's really cool. It's like all of these places that we've lived in and loved combined into one and it just feels like home already.”