One Scoop of Detergent Equals One Measure of Dignity

When Akbar Cook started as vice principal four years ago at West Side High School in Newark, New Jersey, it was a tough gig. The school was seeing two or three kids every summer killed from gun violence.

“I needed to find a way to save them. It really affected me having my kids killed.”

But it wasn’t just gun violence burdening the school. Two years ago, a 16-year-old student entered through the school’s metal detectors and when the security guards asked to check her bag, the girl screamed at them and threw water at them. She didn’t want anyone to see what was inside her bag … dirty underwear and clothes.

“She was homeless that weekend and didn’t want anyone to know.”

Cook then realized that many students at West Side faced humiliation because they didn't have anything clean to wear; they were often bullied for wearing dirty clothes and some of their fellow snapped photos and tagged the students on social media.

Principal Cook heard the students talking, and he saw the social media posts; he suspected that this bullying was the reason 85% of his students chronically missed school, so this year he has added a new facility in the building: a free laundromat:

"These are kids, good kids who want to learn, that are missing three to five days a month because they were being bullied because they were dirty. I even changed the school uniform to darker colors, so they could go more days without cleaning them, but even with that, students were struggling to have them look clean enough to attend."

Two years ago, Cook applied for a grant from a foundation associated with one of Newark's utility companies—PSE&G.—and received $20,000 to turn an old football locker room into a school laundromat. There are five washers, five dryers and a growing stock of detergent donated from around the country.

The room is open to students free of charge between 3PM and 6PM, with an adult supervisor keeping an eye out during those hours and helps pass on the important life skill of being self-reliant; Principal Cook says:

“We are trying to teach them to navigate their pride. My kids are fighters—they just need good ways to fight for themselves, and then take pride in what they can do."

And sometimes all it takes is a clean shirt and a pair of pants.

CNN