Thank-you letter from old lady helps ‘laundromat project’ reach funding goal

A rural county in southwestern South Korea has recently raised 180 million won ($126,000) in donations to set up laundromats in remote areas where elderly citizens have long struggeld with laundry chores.

Gokseong-gun of South Jeolla Province said Tuesday that it had surpassed its fundraising goal, originally set for the end of this year. Some 1,500 people participated in the fund-raiser, with letters of support pouring in from across the country.

The county attributed the early success of the fundraising effort in part to a handwritten letter by a beneficiary of an earlier laundromat project.

The woman in her 80s, who signed her letter as "Damyang-daek" — using an old-fashioned term that refers to a married woman by her hometown, in this case Damyang, — wrote to express her heartfelt thanks to the county for installing the laundromat.

"My back and knee pain prevents from washing the bed covers, and I do it once a year with a car with washing machines arrive. ... Now the village chief tells me there is a place to wash the covers, and I can't thank you enough," the letter read. It was sent last August, and addressed to officials of the county.

The letter went viral online, and fueled many to make donations.

Gokseong-gun plans to use the donations to install laundromats at two regions largely populated by the elderly. It will also have a system to collect the laundry of the senior citizens in the area.

According to the information posted on the Gokseong-gun's homepage, 17,999 of its 47,651 residents were aged 65 or above as of March of 2025.