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More than just clean laundry, it’s a way of giving back

Alliance Laundry Systems donated more than 100 pieces of laundry equipment in 2024

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January 27, 2025

RIPON – For nearly 120 years, Margaret Heffernan, communications and corporate giving manager with Alliance Laundry Systems, said the Ripon-headquartered company has had a giving-back mentality.

Heffernan said there are examples of giving back dating to the company’s start more than a century ago.

“We started in Ripon in 1908, and we’ve been here ever since,” she said. “Historically, we’ve been very committed to giving back to the Ripon community and the broader community as a thank-you for the support we’ve received. We also believe it’s the right thing to do.”

A giving foundation

Heffernan said an example of Alliance’s historic giving and long history is present in current-day Ripon.  

“We were originally called the Barlow and Ceiling Manufacturing Company – that’s how we started in 1908,” she said. “You can see one of our earliest examples of philanthropy right here in Ripon at Barlow Park. One of our founders, Joseph Barlow – and this would have been in the 1920s, I believe – gifted the City of Ripon, the children and the families land for a park. That park still exists.”

Heffernan said Barlow Park is “absolutely beautiful.”

“It’s on the south end of town, and it has playground equipment, tennis courts and baseball fields,” she said. “We’re very proud of that legacy of giving, and there are other examples around the community of what the company has done.”

Though Heffernan said Alliance – a company that designs, manufactures and sells commercial laundry equipment in many industries, including hospitality, health care and laundromats – has had that giving-back mentality since the beginning, the company made it more official recently by creating a program called Alliance Laundry Cares.

An Alliance Laundry Systems employee brings in new laundry equipment to the Christine Ann Domestic Abuse Services center in Oshkosh. Submitted Photo

She said that is the official title of Alliance’s corporate giving program.

“Early on, our giving back was more informal,” she said. “About three years ago, the leadership team approached me and asked, ‘Would you be willing to take this on?’ I enthusiastically agreed.”

Heffernan said the company wanted to make sure its giving was more intentional and consolidated.

“We’ve had various leaders and various people in the organization who have been very generous over the years,” she said. “This is our way to make it more focused.”

Heffernan said the last three years “have been great learning years” for Alliance Laundry Cares.

“We have steadily grown year over year for the past three years, and we look forward to doing even more in 2025,” she said.

Heffernan said there are various ways in which organizations can receive donations.

“We have online forms available on our website, alliancelaundry.com,” she said. “That’s one way we can get a donation started. Our team members are wonderful, generous people with their time, and often, they approach the company and say, ‘Hey, I’m working with this organization, and they need some help.’ That’s another way we find out about donations.”

Other times, Heffernan said they will see something in the news.

“We’ve had organizations like animal shelters post online saying, ‘Hey, we need help – our washer just broke down. Does anybody have ideas?’” she said. “That’s an opportunity for us to give them a call and have them tell us a little bit more about themselves. The donations come in formal and informal ways. We give locally in Ripon and across the United States and globe.”

Present-day giving

Looking back on 2024, Heffernan said Alliance donated more than 100 pieces of laundry equipment around the country to organizations in need.

“The mission of Alliance Laundry Cares is to provide comfort and dignity to those in our communities who are most vulnerable and most in need,” she said. “When you think about it, clean laundry is such a basic thing, and most people don’t think about it and take it for granted. When you don’t have (clean laundry), it really impacts your life.”

Heffernan said Alliance routinely donates to domestic violence, animal and homeless shelters, as well as education organizations.

“One of the things I’m most proud of is the support we gave to the Christine Ann (Domestic Abuse Services) center in Oshkosh,” she said. “It’s a domestic violence center that’s doing great work. They provide shelter and other services. They moved into a larger facility last year… They needed new equipment for the residents to do their laundry.”

Heffernan said more than 10 pieces of new laundry equipment were donated to the shelter.

“We loaded up a couple of trailers full of equipment, worked with the staff there to determine what would best meet their needs and got a group of employees together to install them,” she said. “That’s the type of work we do now.”

Heffernan said Alliance Laundry Cares not only donates laundry equipment, it also makes monetary donations.

“Last year, we made significant contributions to the Boys & Girls Club of the Tri-County Area,” she said. “They are building a new facility in Ripon, and it’s wonderful. We know that facility is going to be very important to our employees and their families. They’re going to be providing some really wonderful services, so that’s another example of financial support.”

Predating the Alliance Laundry Cares program, Heffernan said the company has also supported the Ripon Robotics Club.

“We’ve been doing work with the Ripon Robotics Club for the past several years – we adore those kids,” she said. “We had a director in our manufacturing facility who became involved with the team as an advisor, and he came to the leadership team and asked, ‘Can we provide some financial support for these kids?’ We said ‘yes,’ and we’ve supported them since.”

Alliance Laundry Systems has also worked with the Ripon Robotics Club for several years. Photo Courtesy of Ripon Robotics Club

However, Heffernan said it’s not just about providing financial support for the club.

“We also provide technical assistance and mentors,” she said. “We have employees who have children on the team, and they provide mentorship and advisory support. One of the really awesome things is some of the team members have jobs with us as interns and co-ops.”

Heffernan said Alliance’s work with the robotic club even goes one further than that.

“One of them actually programmed a robot that’s in use on one of our manufacturing lines,” she said. “He did that as a youth apprentice with us. They’re not just students – they also become our team members. They’re very much part of our team, so we not only provide the financial support, the mentorship, the tech and the advisory support, but we also – because these are such great, gifted, hard-working kids – have job opportunities for them.”

Heffernan said at the beginning of the year, as Alliance sets its budget, the leadership team determines the appropriate amount to give back.

“It’s just a part of the annual operations of Alliance,” she said. “It’s built into our culture.”

A global presence

Though Alliance has been in operation in Ripon since 1908, Heffernan said its reach is far greater than that.

She said the company primarily deals in commercial laundry systems but it also works on the residential side of things, too.

“Here in Ripon, we have about 1,500 team members who work in our manufacturing facility,” she said. “Then we have a few hundred more who are office space team members, so we have almost 2,000 employees located here in Ripon. We have a manufacturing facility in Manitowoc with 300 team members, and then worldwide, we have about 4,000 team members.”

Heffernan said Alliance has several global facilities, too.

“We have manufacturing facilities in Thailand, the Czech Republic and China,” she said. “Of course, we have sales offices all over the world, too. We’re tremendously proud of the company. We are the global leader in commercial laundry equipment and more than twice as big as our nearest competitor. If you are in the laundry business, you know about Alliance Laundry Systems.”

TBN
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