![\"\"](\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2024\/07\/PodImage3_05916.jpg\")
“Australia is very much in a cost-of-living crisis as well as a rental crisis,” she said.<\/p>\n
“Having a look at the most recent census compared to the previous in 2016, there’s a 39 per cent increase in homelessness in the greater Ballarat region.<\/p>\n
“Clean laundry’s something a lot of us take for granted but it really is for something, particularly for young families, it can be a decision between clean clothes and putting food on the table.<\/p>\n
“Laundry pods are different from our mobile vans in that they don’t move, but what we find is they’re a much more accessible way for us to enter smaller communities faster given the cost and time it takes to deliver a van.”<\/p>\n
The laundry pod will be installed at the Salvation Army church at 102 Eureka Street, and will be open on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 10.30am to 1.30pm.<\/p>\n
The service will be operated by three to four volunteers per shift with up to 30 volunteers needed for the local initiative.<\/p>\n
Ms Collins encouraged everyone to check the laundry pod out during Orange Sky’s open day on Saturday 27 July from 10am.<\/p>\n
“My colleague Emma will be onsite to facilitate any questions, give demonstrations in running the pod, and there’ll be food and refreshments,” she said.<\/p>\n
“We’re definitely in need of more volunteers as well so anyone who can jump in and help out will be great.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BALLARAT has services in place to deliver meals and showers to people doing it tough, but a new initiative is set to fill the gap in providing clean clothes. Following their introduction into regional Victoria with a permanent service in Bendigo at the start of the month, free laundry and shower provider Orange Sky are […]<\/p>\n