School in Arizona builds laundry room to assist underprivileged students

Maya High School in Phoenix, Arizona has started a new initiative whereby they are providing free laundry room facilities to underprivileged children. The Principal of the school John Anderson came up with the idea and initiated the plan after realising that 30 per cent of his students were homeless.

'The Missing Sock'

According to reports, Principal Johnson spoke to one such student and ascertained that a lot of students did not come to school because they simply did not have a way to wash their clothes. After figuring out the problem, Anderson decided that it was time for the school to step in. With the help of grants from certain sources, Anderson was able to build his own laundromat in the school premise. Anderson believes that this initiative could result in a significant increase in attendance. The room that has been opened in Maya High School is called 'The Missing Sock'.

A leading major home appliance company 'Whirlpool' had started a similar program as part of their Care Counts initiative and had donated laundry machines and other appliances to schools. The schools that received the appliances saw a two-day rise in attendance rates. There was also an increase in in-class participation.

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Andreya De La Torre who is Maya High Schools special project coordinator while talking to local media said that she herself comes from a homeless background and knows how hard it is to come to school while your clothes stink. She added, that in most cases the kids would avoid you and also laugh at you, in those circumstances it was hard for a student to worry about their education when they are worried about their 'self-esteem'.

Andreya also added that in addition to giving kids access to clean clothes, 'The Missing Sock' was also a symbol to Maya High School's commitment to its students more than just academic skills and a way to show them, love. Maya High School has endeavoured not to stop at just installing a laundromat but plans to install showers as well.

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