National Clothesline

In mid-October, Anton’s Cleaners kicked off its 15th annual Coats for Kids drive seeking to fulfill its mission of making sure anyone in the area with a need of a coat will receive one free of charge.

Since late 1994, the cleaning franchise has collected over 562,000 gently-worn winter garments for local residents who otherwise cannot afford them.

Last year, Anton’s worked alongside 60 distribution centers and 465 organizations that chipped in as collection partners to reel in a final tally of 64,480 coats for the season.

Of the 465 collection partners, nearly 300 were local schools participating in the program which rewards several winners with money and prizes for their efforts in gathering the garments.

The impact of the program certainly has been appreciated by the local community, especially the Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless.

Robyn Frost, who works with the organization, perhaps summed up last year’s results best by saying: “It is because of Coats for Kids and the customers of Anton’s Cleaners that the Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless was able to ensure that hundreds of school-aged children could be warm this winter.”

This year, Anton’s will rely on promotional support from FOX25, Jordan’s Furniture, radio stations Jam’n 94.5 and KISS 108 FM.

The drive, which was launched on Oct. 15, will resume through January 9, 2010.

Anton’s, which includes 44 store locations in Massachusetts and Southern New Hampshire, will collect coats at its locations and also donate its cleaning services for the garments.

The cleaners will accept gently used winter coats in all sizes, from babies to adults.

For more information on Antons or its Coats for Kids drive, visit www.antons.com. The program will also be on Twitter and Facebook. To follow, visit the site’s homepage and click on the “Coats for Kids” logo to visit the page with the ensuing links.

The National Cleaners Association will offer pair of wetcleaning sessions and a marketing webinar to wrap up its 2009 schedule.

First up is a wetcleaning seminar scheduled to take place on Sunday, November 8 in New York City. The one-day program will run all day, beginning at 8:30 a.m. and concluding at 5 p.m.

The cost to attend is $250 for members and $275 for non-members.

In December, NCA will present a webinar with wetcleaning expert Ann Hargrove to discuss the cleaning method during a webinar on Wednesday, Dec. 16 at 6 p.m. EST.

The marketing webinar will feature Howard Kaschyk covering “The Importance of Marketing, ROI and Customer Retention beginning at 6 p.m. EST on Wednesday, November 18.

All webinars have limited participation and are filled on a first-come, first-served basis. The cost to sign up is $69 for telephone and web-based participation. That price includes an audio tape of the seminar for everyone and PowerPoint files for web-bases participants.

To purchase a copy of any of NCA’s webinars, visit the association’s web site at www.nca-i.com for a full list of offerings. The cost is $69 plus $7 shipping for a CD version. For more information call (800) 888-1622.