On Saturday morning the Creole gumbo was simmering, the daiquiri machines were churning and the dryers were spinning at Melba's and Wash World, the connected po-boy shop and laundry at Elysian Fields Avenue in New Orleans.

Then the sleek black SUVs pulled up and out stepped former secretary of state Hillary Rodham Clinton, former president Bill Clinton and their daughter Chelsea Clinton.

The political power family was not here to talk politics.

Instead, they were visiting the unique literacy program and family learning initiative that has taken root at Melba’s and Wash World with the support of their foundation. It’s a program they plan to bring nationwide in the months ahead.

Melba’s and Wash World together present a kaleidoscope of local art and New Orleans emblems around the business of doing some laundry and grabbing a quick bite.

Hillary Rodham Clinton, Bill Clinton and Chelsea Clinton paid a visit to Melba’s and Wash World in New Orleans as part of a Clinton Foundation educational initiative. The laundry has a family learning center funded by the foundation. They pose here with Melba's owners Jane and Scott Wolfe, Too Small to Fail director Jane Park and customers of Wash World. Staff photo by Ian McNulty ▲

Earlier this year, it also debuted its latest feature, the Family Read & Play Space. A colorful niche by the washers and dryers has kid-sized furniture, toys, coloring materials and a collection of books for a wide range of young readers. The aim is to turn the time families spend together on a laundry errand into an investment in a child’s future, strengthening early literacy and engaging their curiosity.

“We’re thrilled with what they’ve done here,” said Hillary Rodham Clinton. “You’re doing your wash, you’re getting something good to eat, you’re reading.”

Local students read and color at the Family Read & Learn Space at Wash World, a laundry in New Orleans, just before Hillary Rodham Clinton, Bill Clinton and Chelsea Clinton arrived to visit the space. The Clinton Foundation supports an initiative to develop these spaces in laundries around the country. Staff photo by Ian McNulty ▲

Clinton, the former presidential candidate, secretary of state, senator and first lady, and her daughter together wrote a new book, "The Book of Gutsy Women,” which shares stories of inspirational women through the ages. Their visit to New Orleans includes a discussion of the book Saturday at St. Charles Avenue Baptist Church (the event is sold out).

The visit to the Family Read & Play Space at Wash World was part of a much larger project from Too Small to Fail, the early learning initiative from the Clinton Foundation. The initiative helps turn otherwise utilitarian spaces like laundries, groceries and clinics into places where parents and caregivers can read, talk and play with children, encouraging early brain and language development. That means creating inviting spaces for this to happen.

“We want to go to where the parents are and are with their children every day,” said Jane Park, director of Too Small to Fail. “These seemingly small interactions can have a big impact for a child’s development.”

New Orleans student Geno Cheneau is all smiles at the Family Read & Learn Space at Wash World, a New Orleans laundry. Hillary Rodham Clinton, Bill Clinton and Chelsea Clinton visited on Oct. 26 because the Clinton Foundation supports an initiative to develop these spaces in laundries around the country. Staff photo by Ian McNulty ▲

Too Small to Fail has been working with Wash World to create a model for future expansion. The foundation’s goal is to develop 600 such Family Read & Play Spaces at laundries in 2020, working with the industry group LaundryCares Foundation and other partners across the country,

Jane Wolfe, who co-founded Melba’s and Wash World with her husband, Scott Wolfe, has been working more innovative ideas on literacy and learning into the family business.

This year, she introduced Eat and Read at Melba’s, which brings in authors to sign and give away copies of their books to the people dropping in for lunch. They’ve had some heavy hitters.

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The shop hosted Colson Whitehead, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award, who handed out copies of his new book “The Nickel Boys.” In September, Melba’s customers walked in to find Sarah Broom signing copies of “The Yellow House,” which shortly thereafter was named a finalist for the National Book Award.

“We hit a vein with this, literacy, community and food,” said Wolfe. “A restaurant can be about so much more than a meal. You’re communing with your family, parents and kids spending time together, we want to make it as valuable as that time can be.”

A display of books at Melba's Po-boys features authors who have visited to give away books for its Eat & Read at Melba's program. "The Yellow House" by Sarah Broom was named a finalist for the National Book Award soon after her visit in September. Staff photo by Ian McNulty ▲

As the Clintons walked through the laundry, they shook hands with surprised customers and posed for photos. It happened to be Hillary Rodham Clinton's birthday, so the Wash World crowd sang happy birthday to her along the way.

Bill Clinton even gave LSU football a plug, calling this season's team the best the school has had since the 1960s.

Hillary Rodham Clinton said she was impressed by what she saw around Melba's and Wash World, and how it has incorporated the Family Read & Play Space.

“In the world we’re living in now, a business has to go the extra mile to attract customers,” Clinton said. “That’s how this business becomes a magnet for the community, because there is so much happening here.”

Former president Bill Clinton (left) talks with Keith Wolfe, a manager at Melba's and Wash World, during a Clinton family visit to its Family Read & Learn Space. Staff photo by Ian McNulty ▲

Dawnsha Frazier was there with her young boys, Cayden Hawkins, Roy Cheneau and Geno Cheneau, who regularly accompany her at the laundry and dive into the learning center to color and read.

“It’s really about getting them to sit down and focus on reading and really enjoying it, getting something out of this time here,” she said.

The boys’ grandmother, Kauteria Frazier, said the program is already making an impact for her family.

“I think this is going to be really beautiful for the neighborhood,” said Frazier. “There’s something for them to do besides screens and electronics. They can read. It’s a beautiful idea. Who wouldn’t want this?”

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