This TV star's 'favor' enables SC woman to help the homeless

At 17 years old, Adahlia Nix said she discovered her purpose in life.

It is to help people.

By the age of 21, Nix has accomplished that. She created "For Frankie," a free laundry service for the homeless and low-income individuals of Greenville, South Carolina.

Now it is Nix who is getting help, and from an unexpected source.

Television star Mike Rowe helped Nix expand "For Frankie," with a donation of a van. But not an ordinary van: It's equipped with washing machines and dryers so she can take her laundry service on the road and reach people who might not be able to make it to the laundromat.

The donation was featured on the most recent episode of Rowe's new Facebook Watch series, "Returning the Favor."

Rowe, a popular celebrity spokesperson and pitchman, rose to fame on the Discovery Channel show "Dirty Jobs."

On "Returning the Favor," Rowe travels across the nation to surprise generous people by donating to their causes.

Rowe definitely caught Nix off guard, when he walked into the Coin Laundry store where Nix hands out money so people in need could use the washing machines and dryers. Nix thought the cameras following her were part of a web documentary.

On the program, Nix explained to Rowe what "For Frankie" does, and how it got started.

While she was working in a thrift store, Nix met Frankie Brown, a woman who would buy new clothes at the second-hand store and throw out her old clothes on a weekly basis because it was cheaper than washing them at the laundromat.

Upon learning this, Nix won Frankie's trust and began taking her clothes to a Greenville laundromat with a label on the bag that said, "For Frankie."

Before long, Nix started going to a laundromat every week. For two hours, she'd hand out coins from a dispenser — like you'd see at an arcade — so people in need could afford to wash their clothes.

"To have clean clothes, it gives somebody confidence to just want to step out of their shell," Nix said on the program.

Nix started a GoFundMe page in June of 2017 to help get "For Frankie" off the ground. She has surpassed her $1,000 goal, and has currently raised more than $7,300.

What Nix did not have was the funding to take "For Frankie" on the road. But she had the plan to bring the laundromat to those who needed its services.

She said she was inspired by an Australian operation called Orange Sky that does the same thing with 30 vans in 56 locations. During the program, Nix admitted she draws pictures of what the van would look like. But the plan had not progressed beyond the blueprint stage.

Enter Rowe.

The "Returning the Favor" team gave Nix a van equipped with two washing machines, two dryers and water tanks made with the help of the creator of Orange Sky, who the show flew from Australia to Texas to work with a builder on the project.

The van constructed "For Frankie" was built in less than a week and driven from San Antonio to Greenville.

"We're huge fans of what you're doing. . . . We wanted to try and do something to help you do more of what you're doing," Rowe said on the show, as Nix was surprised by the presentation of the van. "What we have here is a mobile 'For Frankie' laundry service.

"It has everything you need to take this show on the road."

The surprises didn't end there as Nix's parents emerged from the van.

A grateful Nix said, "I'm soaking the future in, of what is about to come."

This story was originally published April 24, 2018 at 7:11 PM with the headline "This TV star's 'favor' enables SC woman to help the homeless."