Alumni contribute billions to build laundry station for juniors in dormitory

With this laundry station, students only have to pay 2,000 - 4,000 VND/kg, 3 - 6 times lower than the price of laundry outside.

The first students to use the laundry - drying system in the dormitory of Hanoi University of Civil Engineering - Photo: NGUYEN BAO

On the afternoon of October 31, at the dormitory of Hanoi University of Civil Engineering, the inauguration and handover ceremony of a laundry station for students took place, contributed and donated by the 40th class of students of the school.

Sharing at the handover ceremony, Mr. Kim Thanh Nam - Head of the 40th Alumni Liaison Committee, said that the 40th class has 23 classes, with about 1,000 students. The year 2025 marks the 30th anniversary of their entry into the school and the 25th anniversary of their graduation.

"Every year we will organize different social responsibility activities, depending on the time and conditions. On the occasion of the 30th anniversary of entering the school, we thought it necessary to return to the school to sow the seeds of gratitude.

Coming back to the dormitory, we saw that it was still old and mossy. Surveying at the beginning of the year, in the middle of the humid season, we saw that the clothes the students hung in front of their rooms smelled very bad and the rooms were stuffy," Mr. Nam said about the idea of ​​making an automatic laundry station for students in the dormitory.

The laundry station was renovated from a warehouse in the dormitory - Photo: NGUYEN BAO

With the school's approval, the alumni started designing, purchasing equipment, calling on benefactors from the 40th class alumni and classes, and renovating the dormitory warehouse into an automatic laundry station.

After 3 months, the 1.2 billion VND laundry station was officially completed, including equipment, software and software maintenance, and site renovation.

When students come to the laundry, they will operate directly on the software using the QR code and pay via the app. Each time they wash or dry a maximum of 7kg, the cost is 15,000 VND/time. The cost is only about 2,000 - 4,000 VND/kg (3-6 times lower than the laundry shops around the school). This is the cost for electricity, water and laundry detergent, managed and operated by the school.

The automatic laundry area is a gift of gratitude to teachers, the school and to generations of students from the 40th class of alumni - Photo: NGUYEN BAO

Associate Professor Dr. Pham Thanh Tung - Vice Principal of Hanoi University of Civil Engineering, expressed his emotion, not thinking that the laundry station would be as beautiful as this. From the design to the actual image, it is truly built, becoming the most beautiful place in the dormitory.

"Before the laundry station was completed, this was a warehouse for unused items. Now it is very beautiful, like a check-in place for young people. This laundry station has a great meaning for gratitude, showing the difference of the construction school, people who want to beautify the world before beautifying themselves.

According to the installation technique of this system, this can be said to be one of the most modern laundry and drying systems installed publicly at a university," said Mr. Tung.

"It's much less miserable with the laundry area you guys provide."

Thu Hien is drying clothes in the dormitory - Photo: NGUYEN BAO

Currently, the Hanoi University of Civil Engineering dormitory has about 1,000 students. Nguyen Thi Thu Hien, a second-year student, said that normally, students who want to wash and dry their clothes have to go outside the dormitory, at a cost of 12,000 - 30,000 VND/kg, depending on the type of clothes.

For Hien, living expenses are limited so she only dares to go to the laundry when she has heavy, difficult-to-wash, slow-drying items like blankets, sweaters, and winter coats. The rest of the clothes are hand-washed in the dormitory.

Hien said, living in a dormitory, one room has 8 people, the drying space is limited. On rainy and humid days, drying clothes is difficult, the clothes are often damp and have an unpleasant smell.

Therefore, she was very happy and excited to hear that the dormitory was donated a laundry area by former students.

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Source: https://tuoitre.vn/cuu-sinh-vien-gop-tien-ti-xay-tram-giat-say-tang-dan-em-o-ky-tuc-xa-20251031182736212.htm