At a new commercial laundry on the NSW north coast, the machines are in full spin. Around 30 tons of dirty laundry roll through each week, providing constant work for its 70 staff.
Among them, 53-year-old John Hardisty who works at an ironing machine folding pillowcases, towels and napkins. It’s hot work, especially in warm weather.
But Hardisty is grateful for his new role and proudly remembers the day he was hired.
“I started crying on that phone call because I knew [this job] would change my life and it has," he says.
John Hardisty at work in the commercial laundry. Source: SBS / Kingsley Haxton
“I have a bad back, so getting this job was actually very emotional because I couldn’t believe I had finally found someone that would take me on," he says.
As well, Hardisty is among many still recovering from the 2022 floods, which washed away homes and possessions.
The $12 million not-for-profit social enterprise laundry opened recently after securing contracts with dozens of local hotels and businesses.
Beacon Laundry provides services to local businesses. Source: SBS / Kingsley Haxton
“We worked with 20 community partners to identify the need and very quickly had a waiting list of 70 people like John [Hardisty] who really wanted a job." he says.
"And now we have a waiting list of another 100 people that really want to work here.”
It’s Terry’s second social enterprise laundry. He set up Vanguard Laundry in Toowoomba, Queensland in 2016.
Workers at Beacon Laundry in Bangalow. Source: SBS / Kingsley Haxton
“In the Northern Rivers after the drought, the floods and the pandemic, there is a higher number of people who have experienced losing their jobs and their homes," says co-ordinator Harriet Vasey Pederson.
“And there was a gap in the local market for a jobs-focused social enterprise.
"Not many organisations focus on giving people who have been overlooked an opportunity, which is where Beacon Laundry stands apart,” she says.
Harriet Vasey Pederson at Beacon Laundry. Source: SBS / Kingsley Haxton
For John Hardisty, this new job is life-changing. His ongoing back pain follows an earlier workplace injury.
“I have some blown discs and it can run the gamut from having a bit of a sore back one day to being in excruciating agony and having to take pretty heavy medication to get through that pain.
“So, it was hard to find an employer who was flexible enough to understand that I still had some value," he says.
“When I heard about Beacon Laundry I thought I would give it a go and now having a job has done wonders for my mental health.”
Hardisty says challenges began while growing up in Sydney’s west during the 1980’s.
“There was a lot of racism and a lot of bullying and vilification that went on back in those days,” he says.
As an adult, he went on to work for 25 years as a residential youth worker in community housing. During that time, he married and after a long wait, finally became a father. However, just eight years later his wife died of renal failure.
John Hardisty at work in the laundry. Source: SBS / Kingsley Haxton
The self-sufficient farm lifestyle lasted a decade, until the landowner decided to sell. Hardisty bought a van and moved to a camping ground nearby.
In 2022, he lost all his possessions when record flooding swept through.
“The memories still are very vivid,” he says. “I jumped out of the van two o’clock in the morning with a dog under each arm and straight into chest high water. I could not stand up and then I was hit in the back by a floating picnic table.
“We were trapped for 11 days until we could get out, and during that time I slept on a table in the laundry.”
Lismore houses surrounded by floodwater in 2022. Source: Getty / Dan Peled
“It devastated my life. I was diagnosed with clinical depression and medicated for that, and it was difficult to see a way forward in life.
“It had taken everything I had and I didn’t know how to start from scratch. I spent 18 months feeling fairly lost.”
That’s where not-for-profit social enterprise Beacon Laundry has stepped in for Hardisty, and others like him.
Workers at Beacon Laundry in Bangalow. Source: SBS / Kingsley Haxton
“We’ve got rubber matting on the concrete floor and we’ve played around with work hours to allow more breaks. And since then, I’ve been able to fill my hours with little pain,” he says.
Beacon Laundry funding started with a $750,000 federal government grant and other funds were secured from philanthropists and investors.
The federal government’s May budget also allocated $22 million as an employment initiative for social enterprises working directly with people facing complex barriers.
That’s good news for Terry who is already planning his third project.
“We believe in a world where everyone that wants a job should have access to a job and that social enterprises or businesses that want to be there for the whole community should be the way of the future,” he says.
“And we want to work with more corporate partners so that we can do this in every community across Australia.”
For many laundry workers like Hardisty, a job is about more than just regular income.
John Hardisty at Beacon Laundry in Bangalow. Source: SBS / Kingsley Haxton
“Now I feel safe and secure here, I can look to future. I would like to travel and one day get into a home of my own.”
