Guests at Serenity House of Clallam County’s shelter are well-supplied for laundry detergent for a few years, thanks to some supportive church students.

In March, five students in St. Joseph’s Confirmation class in Sequim led a campaign as part of their service hours to bring in laundry pods for people without housing using laundry services at Serenity’s Port Angeles shelter.

In total, they brought in 35,418 laundry pods, according to class leaders deacon Dan Powers and youth minister Morgan Nolan.

Their original goal was 7,300 to cover laundry pods for guests in a year.

“It was really a surprise,” said 11-year-old John Nolan II. “It’s crazy how good this turned out.”

Powers, a board member with Serenity House, said executive director Sharon Maggard mentioned in 2023 that the organization had a need for laundry pods, and the Sequim church’s confirmation class stepped up to bring in 3,600 pods in a short amount of time.

In October, Maggard asked if they’d be willing to help again.

The five students have met at 9 a.m. Sunday mornings since September and will receive the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults on May 25, when Nolan said the students are considered adult Catholics.

In the classes, she said they teach basics of the Catholic faith, help them build a relationship with Jesus, and understand how the church works.

Included is 30 required service hours, so that they can “take some ownership and make a difference,” Nolan said.

“We’re trying to focus on kids learning to do service and help people in our community,” she said.

The laundry pod campaign launched in mid-March and featured a Bingo event, announcements at Mass, and students reaching out to family, friends and neighbors.

“It was just wildly successful,” Nolan said.

“Everyone was shocked. We could not believe the laundry pods and money coming in.

“Deacon Dan and I were counting … it just got bigger and bigger.”

Powers also set up a Gofundme that received donations from around the world.

Parishioners donated about 7,700 laundry pods, leaders said, and with fiscal donations they were able to purchase the remainder from a wholesaler.

All pods went to the shelter, class leaders said, with 23,000 delivered a few weeks ago and the rest on April 17.

Maggard said shelter staff were using powdered soap for 105-119 people’s laundry per night and found pods work much better.

“Imagine measuring soap out for all of those people,” she said.

“The were able to give us five years of soap pods. It’s incredible.”

Powers, who was homeless for a time as a teenager, said it’s “difficult having much without a place to live and clean clothes are almost impossible.”

“It was an amazing accomplishment for the kids, and for the church as a whole,” Powers said.

“I’m really proud of the family, friends and parishioners for showing how to walk the walk, and be Jesus in the world because sometimes it’s hard.”

Looking to next year, class leaders said the confirmation class will continue to do service hours and what they seek out will be up to Serenity House leaders.

Last year, students donated nearly 400 coats to people in Forks, and they’ve raised funds for hats, gloves, scarves and toiletries in 2022.

When asked what the community should do or know for those in-need, following his class’s efforts, Nolan II simply said, “please help.”

St. Joseph in Sequim, 121 E. Maple St., can be reached at 360-683-6076 with more information on Clallam Catholic at clallamcatholic.org.

Maggard said leaders haven’t decided what they might partner with students on next, but said the shelter always need pillows, single bed sheets and blankets at Serenity Lodge on 18th Street in Port Angeles.

She said donations are welcome through the Serenity Thrift Store, 551 W. Washington St., with some donated clothes sent to people without proper clothing, and furniture, dishes, and linens given to people who have just been housed through the nonprofit.

Maggard said shelter tours are available anytime; visitors just need to go to the front desk.

For more information and to donate, visit serenityhouseclallam.org/. To make a check donation, mail to Serenity House of Clallam County, P.O. Box 4047, Port Angeles, WA 98363.

Photo courtesy Morgan Nolan/ Nolan Stewart and Deacon Dan Powers work together at a March Bingo event in St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Sequim that served as a fundraiser for laundry pods to support Serenity House of Clallam County’s Port Angeles shelter.

Photo courtesy Morgan Nolan/ More than 30,000 laundry pods were delivered to Serenity House of Clallam County’s Port Angeles shelter in recent weeks following a fundraiser by five students at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Sequim.

Photo courtesy Morgan Nolan/ Morgan Nolan, St Joseph’s Catholic Church youth minister, and Deacon Dan Powers delivered more than 23,000 laundry pods to Serenity House of Clallam County a few weeks ago from a confirmation class fundraiser led by five students in March. Another 10,000-plus pods were delivered last week to the shelter.