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McDonald cleaning business supports cause
During her time working as a special- education teacher, Jody Conway always wanted to find a way to do a little more to benefit those she taught.
Those thoughts, and a background formerly working at a cleaning business, led the McDonald High School teacher to start Cleaners for a Cause— a company that donates 10 percent of its proceeds to special-needs causes.
The business started work in April and at this point, there are only Conway and two contractors doing the cleaning. Each of the three has a background in teaching special-needs students, she said.
“The goal, once we get a space large enough, is to start providing job training for special-needs adults,” Conway said.
Once the adults have been trained, they’ll be able to go out and start working, she said. The company is seeking a site such as a dining hall or other open space for training.
At this point, Conway said she has not told her students about the new venture.
“When I’m with them, I try to make sure I focus entirely on them,” Conway said.
Since the Cleaners for a Cause started, it has expanded by word of mouth to the point where business has become steady over the summer, she said. The group currently cleans at a couple of local businesses and a few homes.
Conway met one of the contractors, Mary Ann Tofil, when Conway was a teacher at Eagle Heights Academy and Tofil was a special-education assistant at there.
Tofil said she wanted to help because Conway was a “wonderful person who loves to help other people.”
Tofil has not worked with special-needs children for two years since leaving work to raise her son, she said.
“When Judy called me and I asked if I wanted to help, I jumped right in,” Tofil said. “This is something good to do, and I love being a part of it.”
Conway acknowledged her schedule would be very busy once the school year started with the business, teaching and coaching the school’s cheerleading squad, but the business was something she had been talking to her friends about for years.
“I like to be busy. You only live once,” she said.
The company makes sure all its clients know that part of the money they pay goes toward special-needs charities. It is printed on every invoice the company provides, Conway said.
“We hope that in the long term, we can provide enough to fund something like an assisted-living facility or a social center,” she said. Cleaners for a Cause can be reached at 330-503-3290, by email at cleanersforacause@yahoo.com and the company website is www.cleanersforacause.com.