WASHINGTON — When most people picture what they’ll be wheeling around in retirement, it’s usually a golf cart or RV — not a former Police Athletic League bus filled with washing machines.
But for Wade Milyard, a retired Frederick, Maryland, police officer, retirement didn’t mean slowing down. It meant starting a new kind of patrol—one that delivers dignity instead of citations.
After decades in law enforcement, Wade found inspiration on a domestic call at a local campsite.
“They were doing their laundry in a creek,” he remembered. “So I asked if something mobile would help—and that was my first yes.”
That “yes” became Fresh Step Laundry, a washing-on-wheels operation that brings clean clothes to people experiencing homelessness.
The concept is simple: people drop off their laundry,

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