E&R Cleaners Partners with Granite United Way to promote giving in the community
Imagine Lisa’s surprise when she stopped by E&R Laundry and Dry Cleaners to pick up her weekly dry cleaning and their staff told her that it’s on the house, she just needed to do something good for the community! The team at E&R Cleaners have been having fun this month kicking off their year long campaign “Pay it Forward” in partnership with Granite United Way to encourage giving throughout the community.
“We decided to do work with Granite United Way because my family and I have been long time supporters of the organization. Their staff and volunteers are helping hundreds of agencies and programs across the state every day,” said Rick Botnick, Owner of E&R Cleaners. “This program has been really popular with our customers and we love hearing about what they’ve done to ‘Pay it forward.’”
Every day, one lucky customer is chosen from each of the E&R Cleaner sites (located at 55 Central St in Manchester and at 170 Route 101 West in Bedford) to receive their order for free with the encouragement to give back to the community in return. Staff like Amber Turcogeorge have enjoyed listening to stories about what their customers are doing. Some have made donations to local agencies, some have bought breakfast for the couple sitting beside them at their local diner, some have returned a stray dog to its owner, and some have helped a stranger in need.
“It’s wonderful to see how people are willing to give back when something nice happens to them,” said Turcogeorge, who has been with E&R Cleaners for more than ten years. “One customer noticed a dog running loose down a road in the middle of a rain storm. Initially, he drove past the dog, but he remembered our Pay it Forward program and felt compelled to turn around. When he opened the door to his truck, the muddy dog hopped right in. Lucky the dog had on a collar with an ID tag, so he was able to call and locate the owner who was grateful for his kindness. Our customer told him the story about how he received his dry cleaning order free from E&R Cleaners and how he was Paying it Forward. Our customer has insisted that he is not done Paying it Forward. He still wants to donate or give money to a special cause or someone in need. He encouraged the owner of the dog to return the favor by Paying it Forward. This story just goes to show the impact one act of kindness can have. No act is too big or too small!
The group has been featuring their customer stories through their Facebook site.
“We were happy to partner with the team at E&R Cleaners to promote philanthropy across our community,” said Patrick Tufts, President and CEO of Granite United Way. “Each week there are new stories to share about how someone made a difference, no matter how large or small, in their lives of one of our neighbors.”
Botnick has been a long time supporter of Granite United Way and is committed to helping the community he cares passionately about. He has committed to offer the ‘Pay it Forward’ campaign until February 2017.