RICHMOND, Va. – The Washington Redskins Charitable Foundation and current Redskins Players worked alongside Bon Secours Health System volunteers to renovate a Loads of Love laundry center space at George W. Carver Elementary School on Friday.
Earlier in the week, the WRCF announced seven schools and nonprofits in Richmond will receive $48,500 in grant funding to open their own Loads of Love laundry centers to serve children in their community. The new locations join five existing sites in the Richmond area and together will impact about 2,500 children annually. Friday's ribbon cutting event kicked off the latest initiative.
"It's just an amazing event," said Redskins long snapper Nick Sundberg, who helped launch the program with his wife, Flor, and the WRCF in 2017. Since its inception, the initiative has assisted thousands of families throughout the Washington Metropolitan Area.
"It's only right to give back to the families and community that we share this area with for training camp," rookie JoJo McIntosh said.
McIntosh, Sundberg and fellow Redskins Chris Thompson, Dustin Hopkins, Tress Way and Austin Maloata were among those helping paint, clean and modernize the facility Friday.
The laundry center will provide students experiencing homelessness or unstable living situations with access to clean clothes at no cost to them or their families. Following the renovation project, representatives from the 12 new and existing Loads of Love sites in Richmond joined the WRCF for a ribbon cutting ceremony. The event concluded with a "Play 60" clinic for all Carver Elementary School students in attendance.
"This is one of my first community events in Richmond with the Redskins," Maloata said. "It's great to be here and help out Nick [Sundberg]."
The Loads of Love (LOL) program's ultimate goal is to remove the barrier for child attendance in participation programs and sports by providing them a discreet solution to the challenge of having clean clothes.
"How this thing has taken off and grown is a great thing to see," Sundberg said. "The smiles on these kids' faces is something you never get tired of."
