National Clothesline

If the drycleaning industry had a national Hall of Fame, then it would most likely be occupied with the winners of the International Fabricare Institute ’s Meritorious Service Awards.

The awards were originally handed out during the Clean Show in Orlando in 1999. Since then, the tradition has been repeated every two years at the biennial event.

In Las Vegas this June, it will mark the fifth time the awards have been handed out. Of course, before that can happen, nominations must be handed in.

IFI will be accepting candidates until April 13 for the following categories: the Legislative Regulatory Award; the Technology Trailblazer Award; the Allied Trades Award; the Green Fields Award; the Commitment to Professionalism Award; and the Positive Recognition for the Industry Award.

From among the nominees, the IFI awards selection committee may also select an honoree for the top honor, the Diamond Achievement Award.

Past winners of that prestigious designation include: Barney Deden of Omaha, NE, in 1999 for his support of the “Barton Bill” legislation; the late Stan Golomb (founder of the Golomb Group) in 2001; and Chris Edwards, president of a Cleaner World in High Point, NC, who won the honor in 2005.

Nobody was selected for the Diamond Achievement Award in 2003.

Nominees for the Legislative-Regulatory Award should be individuals who have actively worked on critical legislation or regulatory issues that pertain to the industry.

Six individuals shared the award in 2005: Jack Alquist of Guild Cleaners in Lodi, CA; David Norford, executive vice president of the MidAtlantic Association of Cleaners; Steve Risotto, executive director of the Halogenated Solvents Industry Alliance; and three North Carolina cleaners — Sto Fox, Mack Davis and Denny Shaffer — who all helped bring the state’s drycleaning cleanup fund into fruition.

Dale Kaplan, owner of Kaplan’s Careful Cleaners in Camp Hill, PA, was chosen in 2003, and John Neal, owner of Ineeda Cleaners in Hutchinson, KS, was singled out in 2001.

The first winner, back in 1999, was Abraham Cho, then-owner of Natural Cleaners in Middletown, NJ.

The Technology Trailblazer Award recognizes individuals or firms that have conducted innovative research on industry equipment or solvents that have resulted in a currently usable and commercially proven technology.

Exxon Chemical Co. was the initial winner for its development of the DF-2000 solvent. However, nobody has met the award ’s high standards since.

There have been winners every year for the Green Fields Award, which acknowledges a person or organization that has made a lasting contribution to the industry concerning an environmental-related issue or initiative.

In 2005, IFI honored four recipients: Gordon Shaw of Hangers Cleaners, who operates a large liquid carbon dioxide plant in San Diego; Dr. Jim Schreiner, associate director of research and development at Adco, who was the Exxon developer and project manager for DF-2000; Jim Douglas, one of the founders of GreenEarth Cleaning; and David Dawson of R.R. Street & Co. Inc., who was responsible for Street’s sole distributorship of DF-2000 and major distributorship of perc in the industry.

The 2003 Green Fields Award was given to Jamie Johnston of Swift Cleaners in Jacksonville, FL. Before that, two other cleaners had won the category: Dr. Manfred Wentz, president of TextileCare International, and Ann Hargrove, the long-time wetcleaning advocate and expert.

For the Allied Trades Award, IFI is looking for suppliers or distributors who have provided long-term service of a substantial nature, demonstrating a solid system of support of member cleaners.

Last time out, three people shared in the accolades: Jim Hericks, owner of FabriClean Supply in Dallas, TX; Ron Kantor, owner of Leather-Rich in Oconomowoc, WI; and Carol Memberg, publisher of National Clothesline, and executive director of the Pennsylvania and Delaware Cleaners Association.

They joined the ranks of other cleaners who had already received the distinction: Bruce Kahn, field representative for Aristo Craft Supply, Inc., Oxford, MA; Jan and Henry Parker, owners of Safety & Environmental Compliance Consultants Inc., Beecher, IL; and Ed Ustik of Phenix Supply Company, Atlanta, GA.

Ideal nominees for the Commitment to Professionalism Award would be anyone who has significantly raised the bar of service in the drycleaning industry, such as Brent McWilliams, Laidlaw’s vice president of sales and marketing, who won in 2005.

In 2003, David Silliman, co-owner of Uptowne Drycleaning in Phoenix, AZ, took home the prize. Other winners include: Don Desrosiers of Tailwind Shirt Systems in Fall River, MA, in 2001, and Carmelia Bernardi of Woonsocket, RI, in 1999.

The final Meritorious Service category needing nominations is the Positive Recognition for the Industry Award, which traditionally goes to an individual who has demonstrated outstanding results in securing favorable publicity for the industry.

An international version of this award was created in 2003 when IFI recognized Emmanuel Azzopardi, owner of Queen ’s Dry Cleaning in Balzan, Malta.

Past domestic winners include: Ed Boorstein of Prestige Cleaners in Silver Spring, MD, in 1999; Barbara Harvey of Fabricare by Fran in Severna Park, MD, in 2001; and Paul Gelpi of Swan Cleaners in Columbus, OH, in 2003.

In 2005, IFI selected three recipients at the Clean Show ceremony: Doris Easley, who has been in the industry since 1944 and was the first female president of the International Drycleaners Congress; Jan Stevenson of Johnson ’s Comet Cleaners in Albuquerque, NM; and Don Schelling of Schelling’s Cleaners in Spokane, WA.

Submission forms for the 2007 Meritorious Service Awards are available in downloadable PDF format at IFI ’s home page: www.ifi.org.

For more information on the submission process, contact Jay Calleja at (800) 638-2627.