LA cleaners collect and clean 4,000 pounds of coats in drive
During the first two months of 2007, the Greater Los Angeles Dry Cleaners
Association cleaned and distributed over 4,000 pounds of warm winter garments
as part of its Coats For Kids campaign.
Overall, 27 area schools from the Glendale Unified School District and all of
the local fire stations participated in collecting the garments.
The Glendale Sunrise Rotary Club helped provide the manpower for the collections
and its distribution.
Ray Rangwala, owner of Esteem Cleaners in Pasadena, served as coordinator for
the drive. He was quite pleased with the results.
“I would like to thank all the participating Los Angeles area cleaners in making
this happen,
” he said. “It is cleaners like these — with big hearts — that make us better members of society.”
Scott Bell of Bryan’s Cleaners echoed the sentiment: “Our employees love this community project because they feel that they are making
a difference to that special child in keeping warm this season.
”
This year was the sixth year that GLADCA has participated in Coats For Kids, and
it was also the most successful. In fact, there wasn
’t enough space to store all of the garments. Fortunately, some cleaners lent the
use of their delivery vans to solve the problem.
Cleaners interested in helping out in upcoming GLADCA projects should contact
Ray Rangwala at (626) 796-8785.
CCA seminar to put focus on care labels
Cleaners already know about the importance of care labels on garments, but many
consumers also use them as an influential factor when they make their initial
clothing purchase.
Therefore, it is essential for customer service representatives to fully
understand all of the information on care labels.
This spring, the California Cleaners Association will be hosting two seminars geared toward helping CSRs, as well as owners/operators and cleaning department
personnel, improve their care label understanding, and, ultimately, their
overall customer service.
The first session will be held at Snow Cleaners from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on
Saturday, May 5. The plant is located at 38 W. Sonora St. in Stockton, CA.
A second program will run from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Perfect Cleaners on Saturday,
June 2. The address is 8550 W. Third in Los Angeles, CA.
The seminar will examine care label terms and symbols — what they are and what they mean — as well as how to classify garments prior to processing.
Many other issues will be covered, as well: how to process garments that have no
labels; examples of illegal care labels; what to do when following a care label
results in garment damage; educating customers about care labels; how to handle
customers when bad care label issues arise; relating customer requirements to
fellow employees; and resolving customer complaints.
The cost to attend each program is $75 per person for CCA members. Non-members
must pay $125 each. Lunch is not provided.
Discounted registration is available for cleaners who send three or more
employees to the same seminar. Space is limited so early registration is
recommended.
For more information on any of CCA’s upcoming programs, visit www.calcleaners.com or call (916) 239-4070.
