National Clothesline

Jim Fitzgerald, Jr. from the Herb Fitzgerald Co. was formally inducted into the Wisconsin Fabricare Institute Hall of Fame at WFI’s 2010 State Convention. Tom Grimm of One Hour Martinizing introduced Fitzgerald to the audience at the awards banquet.

“Jim is a long-time member of WFI,” Grimm said, “and has served as an associate representative to the Board of Directors since 1994. He is the third generation in the Fitzgerald family to be inducted, following his grandfather, Herb, and his father, Jim Fitzgerald, Sr.

“Jim has done a tremendous amount for the drycleaning industry in Wisconsin, including his involvement in the creation of the Wisconsin DERF program in 1997 and the initiation of the Fitzgerald Scholarship Golf Classic in 2004.

“He has served on the Governor’s Council for the Dry Cleaner Environmental Response Fund (DERF) since its inception in 1997. Along with Charlie Cass, Ron Kantor, Attorney Don Gallo, myself and others, Jim was involved in remediation issues even before the DERF program started.

In his acceptance speech, Fitzgerald said he was humbled to belong to the WFI Hall of Fame. “When I first learned of receiving this award my first thought was, ‘I’m not old enough to get this.’”

He said that all his life he wanted to work for the Herb Fitzgerald Co. When he was five years old, he asked his grandfather if he could go out on a call with him and his father, Jim Sr.

“Grandpa said yes,” Jim continued, “so here we were — Grandpa driving the truck, Dad in the passenger seat and little Jimmy in the middle. We all learned very quickly that this was a three generational mistake! Nobody wanted to be there, including me!”

After his speech, he received a standing ovation from the audience. His father, Jim Fitzgerald Sr., one of the charter members inducted into the WFI Hall of Fame, was on hand to share in the evening’s celebration.

To conclude the ceremony, all of the members of the WFI Hall of Fame formed a reception line at the front of the room to congratulate the newest inducted. The membership celebrated his accomplishments with toasts and laughter following the banquet and continued by sharing old stories with him and others in the WFI hospitality suite that followed.

Planning to build on the more than 20 tons of clothing collected the last four years, Lapels Dry Cleaning will hold its spring clothing drive benefiting the Big Brothers Big Sisters Foundation May 8-23.

Donors are being asked to bring gently worn clothing and extra household linens to a local Lapels Dry Cleaning store where receptacles designated for Big Brothers Big Sisters donations will accept all types of clothing as well as sheets, blankets and towels are welcome.

“When we started these as semiannual drives in 2006, I never would have envisioned collecting so many TONS of clothes,” said Lapels Dry Cleaning CEO Lawrence P. Friedman. “Having been a ‘big brother’ for years, I personally know how much this clothing drive can benefit all of the ‘littles’ served by the Big Brothers Big Sisters program.”

The more clothing collected, the more kids that can be helped through the Big Brothers Big Sisters Foundation, which will pick up the collected clothing and distribute it to consignment shops, using the proceeds from the sales of these items to support its mission to help children reach their potential through professionally supported, one-to-one relationships.

Lapels has stores in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, California, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, and Washington. Stores are opening soon in Littleton, CO and Liberty, OH. The company’s corporate office is in Hanover, MA. Its web site is www.lapelsdrycleaning.com.

Prestige Cleaners of Utah has joined FRSTeam, the Hayward, CA-headquartered restoration franchise company.

Prestige Cleaners has been in operation for 11 years. Ryan Fish, the owner, said he joined the franchise because of its family values-centered approach.

“FRSTeam fits very well with our company vision and standards. We feel we are a good fit for FRSTeam as well,” he said.

Covering the state of Utah, FRSTeam of Utah will be located in Midvale, UT, operating out of a 5,000 square foot plant with state-of-the-art equipment, including wetcleaning machines, tensioning presses and automatic assembly and storage conveyors.

“For 95 percent of our existing customers, we visit their home or business twice a week, ” Fish said. “We will apply that same level of customer service to our restoration business and exceed expectations.”

FRSTeam also announced that it has hired Eric Pallai as its business support specialist.

Pallai has more than 20 years of financial and operational experience with specific expertise in identifying organizational deficiencies as well as potential opportunities. His primary focus has been on making growing businesses more profitable.

With background in restoration as well as real estate, property development, construction, security and various other industries, Pallai has provided strategic leadership in operations, sales, marketing and general management. His previous company affiliations include BELFOR Construction Services, DMS Security Group and Spectrum Development Group, LLC.

At FRSTeam, he will work with each of the 48 locations in an operations support capacity. His responsibilities will include organizing training, strategic planning, and business unit and financial planning designed to lead licensees in developing and achieving their goals.

More information about FRSTeam is available at www.frsteam.com.

Irving Weber Associates and Argo Select, a division of Argo Group US, have declared the 59th consecutive dividend for fabric care safety groups managed by Irving Weber Associates (IWA).

IWA delivers a program that provides comprehensive coverage while allowing its group participants to share in the program’s results.

“This latest dividend is further confirmation that the relationship and hard work of IWA and Argo really pays off for our clients,” said Adam Weber, IWA president. “This year was exceptional because we not only continued to pay these dividends to our eligible participants, we did so when our up-front rates are the lowest they have been in years.”

While dividends are never guaranteed, they are based on the experience of the company. IWA insurance programs have provided protection for fabric care specialists such as drycleaners, commercial launderers, linen supply and uniform rental firms for more than 60 years. The company anticipates providing fabric care customers and local brokers with cost-effective insurance protection for many years.

Anyone not participating can request that their broker obtain a proposal on their behalf. For information, visit www.iwains.com.

Members of the Association of Wedding Gown Specialists decided at their annual meeting to make carbon offsets an integral part of their premium preservation procedures.

The association, an international organization of drycleaners who specialize in gown cleaning, restoration, and preservation, has partnered with Carbonfund.org to offer a new standard for gown preservation.

Carbon emissions generated at each stage of the preservation process, from the bride’s trip to and from a member of the association to the cleaning procedures to the wedding chest’s manufacture, will be offset with association members’ donations to Carbonfund.org, a nonprofit carbon offset and climate solutions organization.

Labels imprinted with “ZeroCarbon,” a Carbonfund.org trademark, will appear on preservations from association members, and the donations will fund reforestation projects worldwide.

“Research shows more brides than ever are concerned about their carbon footprints, and for the past year we have been offering brides the opportunity to choose a carbon-neutral gown cleaning and preservation,” said Kermit Engh, association president. “We were the first in the industry to offer brides this option, and it has been a popular choice.

Although the association specifies funds from gown preservations will go toward reforestation, donations to Carbonfund.org also support global renewable energy and energy efficiency projects that also reduce carbon dioxide emissions. All Carbonfund.org projects are independently verified to the highest certification standards.

Carbonfund.org provides individual and business offsetting options. Brides who are interested in calculating the entire wedding’s carbon footprint can find a carbon calculator at www.carbonfund.org/weddings or at WeddingWire.com, a wedding planning website that has integrated Carbonfund.org’s carbon calculator.

“We are very pleased the Association of Wedding Gown Specialists has decided to increase their commitment to the environment,” said Eric Carlson, Carbonfund.org president. “The ZeroCarbon wedding gown preservations are an important and innovative way for any bride to protect her gown while helping the environment and supporting the highest quality carbon reduction projects in the world.”

Association members also work to reduce carbon emissions by recycling, conserving energy, and, in general, setting standards to protect the environment. The association’s web site is www.WeddingGownSpecialists.com.