Betty Brite Dry Cleaners and Laundromat owners Brent and Tammy Ripley were in good company as they celebrated the grand re-opening of their Keil Drive location with a ribbon cutting ceremony and certificate presentation recently.
After completing an addition onto the back of the building this summer to house their new state-of-the-art dry cleaning hydrocarbon system machine, the Ripleys were joined by Chatham-Kent Mayor Darrin Canniff, Coun. Amy Finn and Economic Development officer Anthony Wilson who wanted to show their support to the local business.
“We knew they were doing an expansion, but it wasn’t an expansion to make more money, it was to be environmentally responsible and lower the carbon footprint,” said Wilson.
As part of the community, it was important to the Ripleys to offer the safest service possible to their customers. The Ripleys’ new Ipura machine is one of the most eco-friendly machines on the market, able to lower waste by 95 per cent when compared to traditional dry cleaning.
The reason for the investment was simple:
“It’s our environment and hers,” said Brent as he pointed to his daughter Samantha.
Celebrating 40 years in business, the Ripleys have given countless time supporting organizations such as Big Brother Big Sisters, as well as organizing the annual Community Care Christmas Dinner held at the W.I.S.H. Centre, now in its 13th year.
Relying solely on volunteers and donations from the community, the free dinner serves more than 600 people each, year and any leftovers are donated to soup kitchens afterwards.
“They are great people. They contribute to the community and have been here 40 years investing. It’s businesses like this that drive Chatham-Kent by giving back,” said Canniff.
“We try to do what we can,” said Brent.
