National Clothesline

Eighteen individuals who have provided service to the industry were recognized by IFI with Meritorious Service Awards during the Clean Show in Orlando. It was the largest group to be honored since the inception of the awards at the 1999 Clean Show.

Leading the awardees was Chris Edwards, president of a Cleaner World in High Point, NC, who received the top honor, the Diamond Achievement Award.

IFI said that Edwards’ company enhances the industry’s image through community service work like Read to Ride, Give a Kid a Coat and a hanger-recycling program that has raised more than $50,000 to purchase trees to be planted in the community. Edwards also teaches spotting seminars and other topics to his employees.

Edwards is the immediate past-president of the FabriCare Foundation. “It was through his personal dedication and drive that the FCF Consumer Attitude Survey and FCF Mold Study came to fruition,” IFI said. “He was also one of the movers and shakers to initiate a state cleanup fund a decade ago.”

IFI chose three people for the Industry Positive Recognition Award, given for securing favorable publicity for the industry.

Doris Easley has been in the industry since 1944 and was running the business on her own in 1968, when few women were doing so. She got involved in industry organizations and eventually became the first female president of the International Drycleaners Congress.

Jan Stevenson - Johnson’s Comet Cleaners in Albuquerque, NM, started a Koats for Kids program with the ABC affiliate and has served more than 500,000 kids. She promotes other community service projects, serves on several boards and works for a local hospital foundation.

Don Schelling has donated many hours to his community. He has co-sponsored a Coats for Kids program that has donated more than 40,000 coats and last year he received the “Spirit of Spokane Award.”

The Legislative/Regulatory Award recognized six individuals for work on issues that concern the industry.

Jack Alquist of Guild Cleaners in Lodi, CA, stood his ground for 15 years while state and local governments hammered him in a contamination lawsuit. Alquist and his attorneys built on IFI’s 1993 federal precedent to contest the suit and set a second precedent concerning contamination responsibility.

David Norford, executive vice president of the MidAtlantic Association of Cleaners, has served association members and the industry for nearly 40 years. Last year, for example, he averted a state tax on drycleaning services.

Sto Fox, Mack Davis, and Denny Shaffer were honored for bringing North Carolina’s dry-cleaning cleanup fund to fruition. Fox is executive director of the North Carolina Association of Launderers and Cleaners; Davis and Shaffer are with Medlin-Davis Cleaners and Kore-O-Mat, respectively.

Steve Risotto, executive director of the Halogenated Solvents Industry Alliance, was recognized for bringing openness and support that has benefited the solvent producers that HSIA represents as well as cleaners.

The Allied Trades Award recognizes suppliers or distributors who provide substantial long-term service to the drycleaning industry.

Jim Hericks, owner of FabriClean Supply in Dallas, TX, helps the Southwest Drycleaners Association by informing members of educational opportunities and donating to the Southwest Research Center for Laundry and Drycleaning.

Ron Kantor, owner of Leather-Rich in Oconomowoc, WI, likes to share ideas that improve member services and programs. As an allied trades member of the Wisconsin Fabricare Institute and Michigan Institute of Laundering & Drycleaning, he supports both associations.

Carol Memberg, publisher of National Clothesline, is not only responsible for that publication, she also serves as the executive director of the Pennsylvania and Delaware Cleaners Association and is a director of the FabriCare Foundation.

The Commitment to Professionalism Award recipient was Brent McWilliams, Laidlaw’s vice president of sales and marketing. He oversees Laidlaw’s spotting and pressing seminars and committed Laidlaw to being one of the sponsors of the FabriCare Foundation’s 2002 Consumer Attitude Survey.

The Green Fields Award, given for lasting environmental contributions, went to four individuals for not doing something they could have done, IFI said.

Gordon Shaw of Hangers Cleaners operates a large liquid carbon dioxide plant in San Diego.

Dr. Jim Schreiner, associate director of research and development at Adco, was the Exxon developer and project manager for DF-2000.

Jim Douglas is one of the founders of GreenEarth Cleaning.

David Dawson of R.R. Street & Co. Inc. has overall responsibility for Street’s sole distributorship of DF-2000 and major distributorship of perc in the industry.

What is it that each of these men has not done to merit IFI’s praise?

“To their credit and the credit of their companies, each has promoted the use and benefits of their respective solvents — liquid carbon dioxide, silicone, DF-2000, and perchloroethylene — without attacking other solvents,” IFI CEO Bill Fisher said.

“And when you have something that you personally believe is very good and is the right thing, to avoid a campaign of negativity about another product is one of the hardest things to do. Each of these gentlemen and their companies has brought tremendous benefit to our industry by not assailing other solvents and waging war with each other.”