NEDERLAND, Colo. — As Nederland recovers from a devastating fire earlier this month, the community has found support thanks to a nonprofit bringing a mobile laundry unit into the mountain town.
On October 9, a fire damaged nearly two dozen businesses at the Caribou Village Shopping Center, including The Laundry Room.
"It was like the nucleus of the town. Everyone went there, hung out. The brewers were there, the liquor store was there, the yoga center was there ... everybody was there. That was our town. Half of the town burned down," said Nederland resident James Tigue.
The Colorado Baptist Disaster Relief brought a mobile laundry unit to help the community have a nearby option for getting their clothes washed. Dennis Belz, state director for Colorado Baptist Disaster Relief, said the nonprofit has served the mountain town before after wildfires and other floods. Still, after hearing about the downtown fire, they saw a need for their mobile laundry unit.
"We saw that it burned down, and knowing that that was the only laundromat in town, and that a lot of people do not have enough water pressure to have their own washing machines. People were traveling 25 to 50 miles round-trip to get their laundry done, and we thought, well, if we can bring this unit up here and help them locally," said Belz.
Throughout Saturday afternoon, Linda Belz was moving out different loads of laundry and folding up clean clothes to be ready for pick up. With three washers and four dryers, Linda explained she has to "keep them going and synchronizing" them so it doesn't drain at the same time.
Tigue came later in the evening to pick up his laundry, expressing his appreciation to Linda and Dennis for helping the community during this difficult time.
"It's such a help to the community, Ned strong. Everybody in Ned is really strong in supporting everybody. People giving out food, laundry, and money. It's a great town, Ned strong, stay strong, Ned," said Tigue.
Laundry is done for free by the nonprofit, and people receive a call when their clean clothes are ready to be picked up. Linda Belz explained the mobile unit has been in at least 25 cities helping with disasters, but this visit to Nederland is unique because of the people who live there.
"One of the things is it's a small community that has an immediate need. I really enjoyed going to the small communities because you get to know a lot of people. You get to build a relationship with them, and it's just to have this set up in this little community because of the need they have, I think, is very helpful, and it just helped us to feel like we're doing something to really help people that are in that time of need," said Linda Belz.
Depending on the weather, Linda Belz said the unit will be staying for a month and that there will be another laundry unit from New Mexico going to southwest Colorado to help the flooding victims.
