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Missouri Laundry Provides Meaningful Employment to Disabled Residents

Laundry duty a coveted job among employees

BRANSON, Mo. —  Sheltered workshop Tantone Industries supports local businesses in this area while giving meaningful employment to adults with disabilities.

The business offers a variety of services, including recycling, shredding, mail courier deliveries, a thrift store and more. However, laundry duty is considered the coveted job among employees.

Tonya Moore has been at Tantone Industries for more than seven years, and she appreciates the opportunity the laundry side of the business provides for her.

Moore’s favorite part of working in the laundry? “Making sure the laundry gets done and the companies to have it back on time when they need it,” she says.

But for Moore, it isn’t just about getting the laundry done for the customers; it’s also about doing the job well. The most difficult part for her is folding the processed laundry just right.

“It needs to be put in the right order and folded nicely in a bag,” she says.

And it’s important for the linens to be processed well, because the laundry serves a variety of businesses in the resort town, according to Tom Goodmanson, interim general manager of Tantone Industries.

He says its laundry services resorts, hotels, area camps and some medical offices. The workshop also offers laundry service to the community for larger items such as comforters, area rugs and sleeping bags.

KEEPING BUSY

Tantone Industries cleans approximately 80,000 pounds of laundry annually. That keeps employees moving, with a lot of sorting, washing, drying and folding.

“During the summertime here, we go from 8 o’clock in the morning to 9 o’clock at night. That’s Monday through Friday,” Goodmanson says. “We have a Saturday shift as well, 8 to 3.”

“It lets me keep on my feet at all times,” says Kameo Atkinson, who has worked at Tantone Industries for more than three years. “It keeps me busy.”

It keeps Goodmanson busy, as well. He started at Tantone Industries more than three years ago, working in building construction and maintenance. Then after six months, he was moved into a supervisor staff and truck driver position.

Earlier this summer, the general manager left the company. Based on Goodmanson’s background in warehouse management in Minnesota, Executive Director Max Lytle asked him to serve as the interim general manager.

“I manage 47 employees with disabilities, and seven staff supervisors,” says Goodmanson. “I manage all of the departments and the Thrift Store, and I coordinate the employees that are needed in each department, and the hours of operation.

“This is by far the most intricate job I have ever had. This is also the most spiritually rewarding job I could ever imagine.”

Goodmanson says the laundry does both pickup and delivery, which he also has to coordinate. Some of Tantone Industries’ smaller customers bring in their own laundry, drop it off and then come back to pick it up.

“We have two box trucks, and we also have a pickup truck that we had to get a custom topper for so that we could deliver laundry in it, as well,” he says.

RIGHT TOOLS FOR THE JOB

At 50 cents per pound, the service is fast, convenient and saves Branson-area businesses money on labor hours. All laundry is folded and bagged, as noted by Moore.

And Tantone Industries uses equipment that makes its laundry operations efficient and easy, according to Goodmanson.

“We have three Maytag washers and dryers, commercials, obviously,” he says. “We have some folding tables. That’s our equipment.”

Tantone Industries used funds from a U.S. Department of Agriculture grant to get its laundry service equipment up-to-date with Maytag Commercial Laundry single- and multi-load washers and dryers.

The equipment the workshop uses includes three Maytag Commercial Laundry Soft-Mount Washers, one Maytag Commercial Laundry Top-Load Single-Load Washer and three Maytag Commercial Laundry Energy Advantage™ Multi-Load Dryers. Each has a capacity of 65 pounds, according to Goodmanson.

John Morris Equipment Co., the area’s Maytag Commercial Laundry distributor, helped the workshop choose the right equipment for its needs.

The chemicals, supplied and monitored by Ecolab, are fed directly into the machines, which feature pre-set buttons for towels, sheets, bedspreads, and food and beverage laundry. This means employees can wash a load of laundry with a simple press of a button.

All the employees who are trained to do laundry want to be stationed in the laundry room, says Goodmanson. He suspects the laundry is a coveted job in part because the equipment is easy to manage.

In the winter, which is this tourist town’s off-season, they have to take turns working the laundry shift because there is less work to go around.

LABOR OF LOVE

Not to be undersold, of course, is the fact that laundry duty provides ample opportunity for employees to enjoy one another’s company as they fold load after load, according to Goodmanson.

“It’s this social outlet that perhaps employees like best about laundry service and their jobs as a whole,” he says. “We provide employment for people who otherwise may not be able to find work. This organization enhances the lives of employees because it is more than a job. It’s also a social life. Our employees make friends here.”

Atkinson can testify to the friendly nature of the business. She had worked in laundries at hotels in the Branson area before coming to Tantone Industries, but they didn’t compare to her current job.

“I like doing laundry here better,” she says. “It’s a little bit bigger, so I’m not by myself most of the time.”

The laundry is vital to Tantone Industries keeping its doors open for employees and its customers, according to Goodmanson.

The laundry is the most profitable part of the workshop, he says. Through the recycling business, the workshop is able to employ a lot of people, but it loses a lot of money on recycle. He says that the laundry business allows Tantone Industries to be able to employ all the people by doing recycling with the money that it makes.

“The laundry is very important to us, to keeping our doors open,” Goodmanson says.

He believes Tantone Industries is as good for employees as it is for area businesses. He says that the organization has been at work for more than 35 years in Branson and the Taney County area and is looking forward to serving the community for many more.

thomas laundry web

Thomas Towler moves some of the Branson-area laundry that is processed at Tantone Industries. (Photo: Tantone Industries)

Have a question or comment? E-mail our editor Matt Poe at [email protected].