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Mike and I headed off to North Philly to leave some “Helping Hands” for people to find at the laundromat.

We had 6 pay cards activated for 6 loads of wash/dry at 4.00 each, with a hand written card tucked in a Hope Heals envelope.

North Philadelphia was a bustling industrial hub of the city until the Great Depression when mills and factories shut down. Workers who had come North for work were jobless, and left in an unfamiliar concrete terrain. It’s primarily African American and residents suffered racism; not in isolated incidents but in a relentless decades-long assault. This has created multi-generation poverty, some of the worst in the entire city.

Oscar, the supervisor of the laundromat, was very kind in explaining how the pay cards worked.

I told him I’d like to tape the envelopes to the machines and he said “Why would you want to do that!?”

I talked about Hope Heals and a huge smile came across his face. He smiled again when I answered his questions: there were no thanks necessary and no requirement to pass it on.

We loved being anonymous Helping Hands!

-Lorie & Mike