After graduating from seminary, Missy Getsinger, now a Free Methodist Pastor, began walking the neighborhoods of Central Point, Oregon, to better understand what her community needed.
Those walks eventually led her to a local laundromat.
“I found myself meeting a lot of people there, and after a while I asked the attendant if it’d be OK to bring a bag of quarters to pay for people’s laundry,” Getsinger said. “Clean laundry changes people’s day-to-day experience, whether it’s showing up to work or school or helping people living in their cars clean their sleeping bags and bedding.”
What started as a simple act of service soon became a structured community effort centered on free laundry, lunch and relationship building. Around that time, Getsinger’s denomination asked if she wanted to start a new church, building on the laundromat community that was already beginning to take shape.
That’s how The Fold was launched.
“It gives us some roots here. We now have a place where people know they can find us regularly,” Getsinger said.
The next step was even bigger. The laundromat owners approached Getsinger and her church team to see if they were interested in purchasing the business. After careful consideration, church leadership made the decision to buy the laundromat in December 2024.
“Seminary doesn’t prepare you for small business ownership in any way. But it just felt like the right next step for us,” Getsinger said.
Aging equipment in need of an upgrade
With keys in hand, the church soon discovered that the 40-year-old laundromat had aging infrastructure issues. Most notably, the 30-year-old water heater was no longer providing enough hot water, even though customers were paying for it.
Because The Fold is volunteer-run and designed to provide free laundry for people in the community, every operational dollar matters. Getsinger needed upgrades that would improve the customer experience and support long-term sustainability without putting too much additional strain on the business.
Connecting with Energy Trust of Oregon
The Fold’s path to energy savings started with an unexpected suggestion. While helping with drainage issues at the laundromat, a plumber encouraged Getsinger to look into Energy Trust cash incentives for energy-efficient equipment upgrades. She reached out to Energy Trust and started exploring which improvements could make the biggest difference for the laundromat, its customers and the community it serves.
“Energy Trust came out and took a look around and gave me a cool vision of what upgrading and making our facility more energy efficient could look like. They walked me through the process. The clarity and the communication were great,” Getsinger said.
With support from Energy Trust, The Fold, an Avista customer, completed a tankless water heater upgrade that qualified for more than $3,500 in cash incentives.
The impact was immediate. On cold mornings, customers can now see steam rising from the machines, a visible sign they’re finally getting hot water for their laundry.
With close to 80 loads of laundry at every free laundry event, plus 240 loads from paying customers during the week, the upgrade is expected to help The Fold save nearly $850 in energy costs annually.
And because the laundromat operates as a regular for-profit business that helps support the church’s community work, those savings go further than the utility bill.
“Getting the incentive was really significant for us. Energy efficiency, for me, is a win, win,” Getsinger said.
Start saving energy at your laundromat
Learn more about how you can save energy at your laundromat or community-centered organization with support from Energy Trust of Oregon. Visit our cash incentives page or get started on your energy-saving project by emailing existingbuildings@energytrust.org.