A Valpo Life in the Spotlight: Logan Wuethrich

Logan Wuethrich knows that when families are busy, schedules are crazy, and time is precious, one of the last things anyone wants to think about is laundry. That’s why his family-owned business, Ladybug Laundry, is making the experience fun, inclusive, and centered around community.

Ladybug Laundry, which was founded by Wuethrich’s family in 2002, has always had a mission of giving back at the heart of its operations. With locations open in many areas around the Region, there is never any shortage of people whose lives can be touched by the generosity the business extends.

“It’s kind of a funny story. It was originally called The Sally Wash, which was my mom’s name. That’s what it was called when my dad started this business,” Wuethrich said. “My time in the business came later.”

Wuethrich grew up in Francesville in Pulaski County, where Ladybug Laundry had its start. After marrying his high school sweetheart, Wuethrich felt the call to the mission field. He and his wife headed to Haiti and then to Puerto Rico as missionaries.

“When I left the mission field, I was living in Converse, Indiana,” Wuethrich said. “I was an internship director and a programming director at a summer camp there. Then after my tenure there, I went to work up in Valpo, so we moved to Valpo in 2018.”

In Valparaiso, Wuethrich’s family became involved at CrossPointe Church. For four years, Wuethrich worked as the youth and worship minister there until his father decided it was time to retire from the family business.

“My father asked if I wanted to come work with him,” said Wuethrich. “I’d always felt a really strong calling into the business world. Ministry for me was an interesting path, but I wanted to do business, I wanted to be on that side of things. There was a strong ministry calling for me that I could not ignore, so that’s the path I ended up going at first, but I felt like God was calling me back to my roots, which was in business.”

Just because Wuethrich is now working outside of the mission field does not mean his heart for the ministry has changed. Under his leadership, Ladybug Laundry has given back to the communities they service so that the company can be more than just a laundromat. It is a place of hope.

“We have 13 locations currently with two more under construction and opening soon,” Wuethrich said. “We’re always looking for local nonprofits in need that we can support in any way. We donated laundry supplies to local homeless shelters and pet shelters. People don’t always think about laundry when they talk about the needs these places have, but everyone has to do laundry.”

Even though the business takes a lot of Wuethrich’s time, he tries to make time for the things he enjoys outside of work as well. Anything he can do that involves the outdoors and connecting with nature, he tries to do as often as he is able. This includes hunting, fishing, and hiking. He also enjoys spending as much time with his family as he can, because he knows how important it is to keep himself focused on what matters most.

“There was a guy who used to say, ‘The shoe doesn’t show Christ because He puts a cross on the shoe, but because of the quality of the shoe.’ That was my dad. My dad was a perfect example of showing what it means to be a man of God because of the quality and the hard work that you put into things,” Wuethrich said.

It’s this mentality that has propelled Wuethrich in his work. He believes that no work, whether it is in the ministry or the business world, can be done without the people being served in mind.

“Don’t forget about the people,” Wuethrich said. “I don’t want to say that we only care about people because it helps our business succeed. We do our job so that they have a safe, clean place to do what they need to do. Everything is about the people. We do what we do to stay open, but any profit beyond that is with the people in mind. We want to help anywhere we can.”

Ladybug Laundry is opening a new location in Portage next, and Wuethrich is eager for any local nonprofits to reach out to them if they have needs the business can fill.For more information, you can visit ladybuglaundry.com.