Non-Profit Teams Up With Laundromat To Help El Reno Tornado Victims

A local organization, “Sox of Love”, is stepping up to help tornado victims with their laundry. An EF-3 tornado tore through El Reno just over 48 hours ago. Now, a small group of volunteers has partnered with the Maytag Laundry shop to wash vi

Monday, May 27th 2019, 10:03 pm

By: Bonnie Campo

Non-Profit Teams Up With Laundromat To Help El Reno Tornado Victims

A local organization, “Sox of Love”, is stepping up to help tornado victims with their laundry.

An EF-3 tornado tore through El Reno just over 48 hours ago. Now, a small group of volunteers has partnered with the Maytag Laundry shop to wash victims’ clothes, free of charge.

“When you don't have anything, something as small as washing your clothes, or a pair of socks is everything,” said Sox of Love Founder Tamara Nelson.

The group got its name by giving socks to those in need. But in situations when victims have lost everything, and have no way to wash those socks, they came up with another idea. They started helping people wash their clothes instead.

After a tornado, that can be hard work.

“Sometimes those clothes are in such bad shape, that you have to wash them two or three times,” said Nelson.

Survivors are grateful for the help, but many are still I shock.

“My husband seen it, he said, ‘It's a tornado, and we have to get out of here,’ but we can't get out of here right now because we have no place to go,” said Kimerly Hatton, who lived at Skyview Estates.

With no time to take cover, they held onto each other as the tornado took out the motel, and neighbors’ trailer homes.

“It shook the trailer, I had took...I had my three grandsons there, I put them on the bed, and I was covering them up. It shook so bad, one of them fell off in the floor,” said Hatton.

She said her family ran from the home after the tornado, some had no shoes.

They had to leave everything behind.

That's until, Sox of Love stepped in. They gifted the family a few new pairs of shoes today.

“It's overwhelming, because you don't expect people to be that nice, and they are,” said Hatton.

“As long as we have resources, we are going to be able to help you,” Nelson said.

Sox of Love depends on donations. If you missed Monday's event, you can always contact Sox of Love through their webpage.

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