Student volunteers spent hours Sunday and Monday nights perfecting a new laundry system for evacuees in the PMAC.The PMAC turned into a special needs medical shelter during Hurricane Gustav. More than 250 patients, caregivers and families stayed in the PMAC for more than a week without a laundry service available.Many patients came with only a few changes of clothes and had no idea when they would be able to return home.Tiffani Crippin, mathematics sophomore, saw a need for a laundry service when she was stationed at the linens table Saturday night. Patients constantly asked about laundry, she said. But services at the PMAC only washed towels and bed sheets.”I had to keep telling them ‘No,'” she said. “I wanted to spend my night solving that problem.”Patients had no way of doing laundry themselves, and the staff focused mainly on medical situations, Crippin said.She contacted Damon Levy, owner of Cyclone Laundry and Internet Cafe, who agreed to extend his hours Sunday and Monday from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. to provide washing machines and dryers.”I didn’t know how it was going to work,” Crippin said. “I just needed a place to do it.”She persuaded the command office at the PMAC to allow a team of volunteers to wash evacuees’ clothes for free.Crippin donated $100 to the project’s fund and received donations from churches all over the state. Cyclone Laundry, located on E. Boyd Drive, agreed to match what she raised dollar for dollar. Crippin said washing 250 patients and caregivers’ laundry cost about $680.”We don’t have many opportunities to do volunteer work,” Levy said. “This facility was built because of the campus and the students. Anytime we get an opportunity with LSU, we try to participate.”The volunteers helped patients empty dirty clothes from the week into numbered mesh bags. The bags were organized by the patient’s ward and bed number in the PMAC.Another team transported the bags to Cyclone Laundry, washed and dried the clothes. The team returned the laundry to patients the same night, and they were able to wash 24 loads at a time.”A lot of people only have one pair of clothes,” she said. “It hurts my heart.”Leo Russo, a caregiver from Metairie, said he brought two pairs of jeans and 10 shirts, but it wasn’t enough. He’s been staying at the PMAC for more than a week.”I was going to the gift shop to buy LSU clothes to wear,” Russo said. “These volunteers are wonderful.”Crippin said patients were excited about her project, and she will continue to be of service as long as it’s needed.”If [Hurricane] Ike comes, I’ll be doing it all through Ike,” she said. “As long as there is a need, I will be there to help.”–—Contact Leslie Presnall at [email protected]