Coin shortage impacts laundry program for Santa Cruz homeless

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. (KION) Brent Adams and a team of volunteers with the Santa Cruz Warming Center Program tackle 60 loads of laundry for the homeless every week. "Clean clothes actually makes the difference with a person's ability to access a job or even going into a business at all," said Adams.

Adams needs around $400 in quarters to get the job done. Recently, the machines that feed him the change just can't keep up. "Two weeks ago, there were no coins at all here. It was an extreme circumstance. We went out into the community and tried to get coins from all the other laundromats," said Adams.

To accommodate social distancing among employees, the U.S. Mint made cuts to coin production. At the same time, coin exchange has gone down as businesses close.

The impact has trickled down to businesses like Hill Top Laundry in Santa Cruz. Manager, Marcos Alfaro, said the banks can't provide them with enough coins to fill their machines. "It's frustrating. We're starting to lose customers," said Alfaro.

Adams collected enough coins to do one more week of laundry. He hopes to find a solution before he runs out. "Otherwise, we will probably have to cease the program. We have no way of accessing coins," said Adams.

To learn more about donating change to the Warming Center Program, email:  warmingcenterprogram@gmail.com.