LARNED — With just a few days remaining on the 2025 calendar, United Way of Central Kansas has been checking off activities as they wind up another successful year in the Golden Belt.
Now that UWCK’s first go with Larned Lions Clubs’ 50-year-old Christmas Basket program is safely in the books, Executive Director Charell Owings had some end-of year details for those attending last week’s Larned Chamber Coffee Hour at the Carr Auction Gallery.
The final Laundry Love for the year was held in Great Bend on Dec. 20, sponsored by the University of Kansas Health System - Great Bend campus after wrapping the last outing in Larned last Wednesday.
“We have washed and dried over 1,500 loads of laundry since that program’s inception,” Owings noted.
She explained that through the event, UWCK is also able to connect families who utilize the program with other resources in the area.
“They can connect with Family Crisis Center, Salvation Army, Catholic Charities; they can get in touch with other resources that may come up in conversation. We are building trusting relationships with them and so they feel comfortable seeking help. We want to be that person, that entity, that they can go and ask.”
About Laundry Love
United Way pays for five loads of laundry washed and dried per family at each session.
“I will admit to being a pushover in this,” Owings said. “I will oftentimes do more than five loads.” She recalled that at an August session, UWCK planned to do twice as many loads that month, and helped one family who brought in 28 loads.
“We’ve helped people get jobs and had other random cases where we were able to connect them with a needed service,” she continued. Laundry Love programs will resume in February 2026.
Looking ahead
Coming up, Great Bend Middle School will host 8th- and 10th-graders for Reality U, from Larned, Kinsley, Pawnee Heights and Otis-Bison.
“We are still looking for sponsors,” she noted. “Fifteen hundred dollars covers the cost of the program, before we feed our volunteers. We do still need funds to make that happen.
“We don’t profit in any way off of the Reality U event. We pay Pando Initiative to run the simulation, but we do a lot of legwork in the background, and that includes the volunteer breakout sessions.”
