A fundraising event Friday (July 13) at Streeters will offer storytelling and music to help support the HELPLINK Laundry Project, which helps those in need meet their basic laundry needs.

The second annual Dirty Laundry Monologues will feature Los Angeles-based professional theatre coach and producer Rebecca Bellingham of Sweet Chaos along with local community members sharing a variety of stories. Jabo Bihlman will provide live music for the event. Proceeds from the evening will fund The HELPLINK Laundry Project, which operates four free laundry events each month during the school year (September-May) for low-income families, seniors, and those with disabilities to meet their basic laundry needs. Trained volunteers are also on-site at the laundry events to connect families with other necessary services.

“It’s not just about clean clothes, it’s about dignity and access to basic human needs,” says HELPLINK executive director Karen Fulkerson. “Every day, parents, the elderly, and the disabled fret over how to make ends meet. Choosing between food, rent, or heat can push clean clothes way down the list of priorities.”

Fulkerson says children who attend school in dirty clothes are not only faced with ridicule by other children, but are often singled out and reported to Child Protective Services. This creates isolation and low self-esteem and can negatively affect educational success. Fulkerson adds that adults are also affected; an employee whose clothes are soiled and unkempt may be treated with a lack of respect, and a job candidate appearing for an interview without clean clothing may not be taken seriously.

Dirty Laundry Monologue tickets are $35 each (the cost of a week’s laundry for a family of four) and are available online here. Doors to the event open at 6:30pm. Admission includes the performance and light appetizers; a cash bar will also be available.