National Clothesline
NEFA Fall Fest coming to Sturbridge this month
Experts from across the country will gather at the North East Fabricare
Association’s Sixth Annual Fall Fest 2012 at the Sturbridge Host Hotel and Conference
Centerin Sturbridge, MA.
Drycleaners who attend the event, which will be held from Nov. 16 to 18, will
have a full lineup of speakers along with table-top exhibits by allied trades.
The featured topics and speakers for Saturday include: “Managing Your Business as Your Biggest Asset” by Dave Brown and David Kammet; “The 12 Most Spotless Reasons You Need to be on Social Media” by Peg Fitzpatrick; “Where Are We, How Did We Get Here and What Are We Going to Do About It?” by Don Desrosiers; and “The New Environmental Reality: Vapor Intrusion, New Standards and Alternative
Solvent Concerns,” a panel discussion by Robert Fasanella, Maureen Dooley, Bill Hoyerman and Peter
Woodward.
On Sunday morning, Diane Ravencroft of Fit to Lead will present “Educating, Training and Managing Your Customer Service Team.”
That program will be followed by another from Lorraine Muir of DLI’s Analysis Laboratory. She will offer the latest fashion and fabric report
covering new and potentially problematic garments that are making their way to
drycleaning plants.
For a social networking opportunity, NEFA will host a cocktail reception and
silent auction from 5 to 7 p.m. on Saturday night. The reception and auction
will feature entertainment and food and the auction will include a range of
items from weekend get-aways and sports tickets to products and services to
help the drycleaner’s business.
Full registration packages for the weekend are available at a cost of $250 for
members and $300 for non-members, and $199 and $249 for additional members and
non-members, respectively.
Those who do not plan on attending the entire weekend may purchase partial
registration packages.
The cost is $150 per person for the Saturday sessions only, which includes
breakfast and lunch. Attendees of the Sunday sessions and brunch only pay $75
per members and $99 per non-member.
The Saturday evening dinner and silent auction costs $50 per person.
Anton’s begins 18th coat drive
During the first 17 years of its annual Coats for Kids drive, Anton’s Cleaners has helped collect, clean and distribute over 744,000 winter garments, an
estimated $8.5 million in cleaning costs overall.
Last year’s drive brought in over 56,000 garments with the help of 261 schools and 315
corporate and community partners. While the number of collected coats varies
from year to year, the mission remains the same: anyone who needs a coat will
have one.
Earlier this year that commitment was honored when the Boston Center for Refugee
Health and Human Rights honored the company with its 2012 Ubuntu Award at
Boston Medical Center.
This year the 99-year-old company with 42 locations officially kicked off on
Monday, Oct. 15 and will run through January 12, 2013.
