We're still collecting donations
On the 18th April 2020 we'd raised £275 with 11 supporters in 42 days. But as every pound matters, we're continuing to collect donations from supporters.
Raise 3000 free washes for the elderly, local homeless, people in care. Corona is forcing people into lockdown so help us to help them!
by Wash Cycle Ltd in Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom
On the 18th April 2020 we'd raised £275 with 11 supporters in 42 days. But as every pound matters, we're continuing to collect donations from supporters.
Wash Cycle is crowdfunding to raise £60,000 in return for 3,000 free washes for local vulnerable communities, as it offers an 'On Demand' laundry service that is both environmentally-friendly and tackles the proposed congestion charge in Cardiff head-on. We have lowered our original target to £30,000 but hope to eventually raise the £60k. With the increasing restrictions of the CoronaVirus, people will soon be unable to get to their local launderettes and so our service will become invaluable to help prevent them from having to put up with wearing and sleeping in dirty laundry which may have been exposed to the germs. We have also offered 40% off on all laundry orders to help prevent our service becoming a financial burden on our customers.
Unfortunately, due to the CoronaVirus, we are also likely to start to experience some financial troubles soon too. As such, any additional donation to help keep us running would mean the world to me. I have been working non-stop for the past 2 and a half years, sacrificing any essence of a wage and more or less in self-isolation to get things going already, so to see all that work go down the drain would truly by heartbreaking for me.
My name is Jonathan Day and in 2017 I founded Wash Cycle, a delivery laundry service, in Cardiff. If you’d like to check out my website, the link is www.washcycle.co.uk.
In the past year, Wash Cycle has gone from strength to strength. From receiving the 'Highly Recommended' award at the Cardiff Business Awards 2019, to becoming profitable by the end of our 2nd year of operations. Wash Cycle has retained a 5 star rating on Google after 68 reviews, as a result of superb standards for both customer service and the quality of the work. Now, I am looking to expand.
I have spent the last year reinvesting profits into upgrading our ecommerce capabilities including upgrading our website, and creating new price points for various types of laundry, as I have grown to understand my customers needs better.
Additionally, I have an app in the pipeline which I hope to be ready for release by the end of the 1st quarter of 2020. This will enable Wash Cycle to further improve the customers' experience, whilst increasing the ease at which laundry can become a chore of the past for my customers.
3 simple reasons:
1. ENVIRONMENT - Wash Cycle is working to eliminate plastic usage and reduce water pollution from our detergents. When people use us, they avoid purchasing dozens of detergent boxes each year, while I refill our larger containers of Vegan certified, 'cruelty-free' detergents from our local 'bio-d' detergent distributor. I also encourage our customers to supply their own reusable bags for a discount on their order, a move that has seen an 80% reduction in single use plastics since its roll-out.
Additionally, through our more efficient delivery operations, Wash Cycle is helping to reduce Co2 emissions and reducing the number of cars on Cardiff's congested roads. As Wash Cycle grows, this benefit will only increase - helping our local community to breathe easy.
I will also be committing Wash Cycle to take part in offset.earth. Offset.earth is an organisation which plants trees on your behalf every month in order to help offset your carbon footprint. As Wash Cycle grows, we will donate 12 trees to be planted every month for every employee working with us to help ensure that Wash Cycle remains carbon neutral.
This combined with the reduction in energy usage, achieved from combining a large families entire laundry into a single highly efficient machine, makes us the eco friendly alternative to home laundry.
2. Convenience - I understand how busy life can be and that sometimes you simply don't have time to fit your laundry around your busy schedule. On days like these simply login to your Wash Cycle account and within an hour I can have your laundry collected and taken care off for you, with a typical return of less than 4 hours. Wash Cycle could even collect it from your work in the morning and have it back by lunch for your afternoon meeting.
3. Price - Wash Cycle will not be beaten on price. Offering a delivery laundry service for little more than most launderettes would charge you to wash and fold your own clothes, it makes sense to let Wash Cycle come sort your laundry for you. Allowing you to spend your time doing what really matters, without leaving a hole in your wallet.
In 2020, I would like to move Wash Cycle into its own premises and buy our own machines. This will enable Wash Cycle to continue to offer our growing number of clients the best service, at competitive prices, for the foreseeable future.
Your donations will be used to purchase 9 highly efficient washers and dryers, as well as a rolling iron to enable us to roll our service out to larger clients - all whilst cutting our energy and water usage to minimise our environmental impact.
To pay your kindness forward, depending on the size of the donation, I am offering to either:
Professionally clean the clothing of residents at YMCA Cardiff.
Professionally clean the laundry of local elderly people affected by the current lockdown imposed due to Covid-19
Professionally clean the laundry of children and young adults in care, associated with Voices For Care Cymru.
Professionally clean an entire local teams rugby kit - Whitchurch Women's and Girls RFC.
*1 wash can include up to 8Kg of laundry - not including kit washing
Please see our list of rewards to see the other benefits of donating to our campaign.
I have set a target of £60,000, with the hope of offering a potential 2,400-3,000 free washes for the elderly, Voices from Care Cymru, YMCA Cardiff and Whitchurch RFC Women & Girls Rugby Team.
This will enable us to cover the fees for the campaign, finance the free washes and partially pay for our new machinery. The total value for 3,000 washes would amount to approximately £36,000 of free laundry.
I promise to keep you all updated - if you opt in - on the progress of the campaign, as well as on how many free washes have so far been delivered to the shelters. I truly appreciate your time and consideration. A donation of any size will help.
Thank you,
Jonathan Day
Founder of Wash Cycle Ltd
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