Eric Davis, owner and operator of Sapulpa Laundry at the corner of Main Stree and Bryan Avenue, held his biannual “Loads of Love” free wash and dry on Saturday, April 8th, from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. The event was co-sponsored by Shoulder to Shoulder Ministries, First United Bank, and First Baptist Church.
Laundromat patrons were able to wash and dry their clothes free of charge, listen to music provided by Shoulder to Shoulder Ministries, and eat hamburgers cooked by volunteers from First Baptist Church. Daylight Donuts provided free donuts, and free soft drinks and water were also served at no cost.
Sapulpa Laundry shows a full crowd during their biannual “Loads of Love” free washing event, held in April and November. Owner Eric Davis has been serving the community with these events for more than 10 years.
Davis told the Sapulpa Herald that this community outreach project happens in April and in November, with the November event being sponsored by Medworld. Free wash is also made available on the second Saturday of every month, sponsored by First Baptist Church.
Mr. Davis said that the sponsors contribute a certain dollar amount to the event and he picks up the rest: “They gave x amount of dollars, anything that will be needed past that, then we will kick in. We also do half-price wash or discount price wash every Wednesday for 24 hours, we have done it for 10 years.”
Davis explained what led him to give back to the community: “We would see people struggling just to pay their bills. Everybody deserves to have clean clothes, it is a little thing but it means a lot to people.
“I had gotten burned by hypocritical Christians who say one thing and do another,” he continued. “So, rather than tell people what a Christian should be, we live it by doing what we do here.”
Davis sees this as an opportunity to spread the gospel. “People come in expecting to pay and we say, ‘hey, this is free. it’s on us,’ They don’t quite understand it and it gives us the opportunity to be able to witness to people without really witnessing to them. if everyone can do whatever little part, they think it might be little, but in the scope of everything, if all we do our little bit, it is so powerful.”
Davis gives one-fourth of every dollar that comes into the business to missions, as well as donating his time, talents, and money to the Sapulpa Ministerial Alliance.
While looking around at all the people donating their time Davis said; “we have all teamed up because we have the same heart, a servant’s heart.”
Besides being a Christian, Eric Davis is committed to giving his customers the finest laundry experience possible. He runs a state-of-the-art operation with the latest technology, high tech-washers, and dryers, and powers the businesses with 22 Kilowatts of solar panels on the roof. He even makes sure that patrons will have the cleanest wash possible by using a water conditioning system that cleans and softens the water.
Davis says the idea for the ministry didn’t come right away. “My wife and I did not see this as a ministry until about six years when we truly gave our whole hearts to the Lord, and we gave this whole business to it,” he said. “In normal circumstances, you start focusing on the money and how to make more money for the business. But when that switch happened in my heart, it changed everything.”
