By Lenny Strauss
Hometown Weekly Reporter
Starting on July 14 and running through August 16, the Medfield Village Cleaners, located here in Medfield, MA, will be running a school supply drive in support of the Corey C Griffin Foundation. This organization, since 2014 has focused on ensuring that Boston-area youths are provided with health, safety, and education, with their initiatives supporting children from preK all the way to adults. The foundation partners with and mobilizes local nonprofit organizations to work directly with children in their communities, supporting local schools, athletic/recreational clubs, health and religious organizations. By providing support in each of these areas, they provide a multi-faceted support system that allows children the greatest level of support, and the best possible outcome towards their success. We at the Hometown Weekly had the pleasure of speaking with Peter Anastasopoulos, owner of Medfield Village Cleaners, about the story behind both he and his wife’s involvement with the organization, goals for his drive, and how the local community can get involved with such a necessary cause.
LS: Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your business: Medfield Village Cleaners. How long have you been in Medfield?
PA: The business opened in 1993, owned and operated by my parents, for almost 20 years. In 2013, my wife and I took over the shop, her name is Jana. We’re a full-service laundry, dry cleaning, and alteration shop, all the work we do is in house. We specialize in area rugs, fur cleaning, wedding dress cleaning, we really focus on the full service. I didn’t grow up in Medfield, I grew up in Boston, which actually drew me to the Corey Griffin Foundation, because of the work they do in the Boston Area.
LS: Can you tell me about the Corey Griffin Foundation?
PA: Their calling is that they want to work with kids to provide opportunities to help educate, mentor, provide work opportunities, and to give young kids in the city a chance to be successful.
LS: Can you tell me more about your participation with the Foundation?
PA: “We started working with them at the peak of COVID. Their headquarters used to be officed here in Medfield. At that time, their director reached out to us. We had been working with another organization that was making masks for people that work in hospitals and all these other areas. She asked if we were willing to sponsor a classroom that could make 20 masks for a classroom in the city. I noted that we’re an alternation shop and have the ability to scale more than that, what’s the need? She started telling us the need, and it was pretty dramatic, telling us stories of kids who had to wear the same mask over and over again, not having the ability to clean them at home, which at the time was a major issue. We appealed to our customers, who donated many different kinds of fabrics. At the end of the coordinated effort, our shop made over 3,000 masks for kids in the city. That’s how our relationship started. The following year, they reached out to us again, where they told us about the school supply drive in the city, seeing if we could participate in any capacity. We have in the past appealed to our customers around issues that matter to us, and they are incredible, always rallying behind our crazy ideas and charitable efforts. We started five years ago, this being our fifth year working with them collecting school supplies. Its incredible to watch the growth from year to year. Last year, the organization was able to fill over 2000 backpacks, distributed to kids in the inner city. This year our goal is to reach 4000.”
LS: “How can our community get involved?”
PA: “Historically, the organization would ask for backpacks, plus the school supplies themselves, but New Balance stepped in and donated all 4000 backpacks, so our charge is just to fill them up with school supplies. The way they distribute it is during a bag stuffing day at one of the schools, where they pass out backpacks to children in need. It really impacts a lot of kids. Its funny, we’re a small shop and here we are, hooked up with a monster organization that does incredible work. Other vendors are New Balance, Staples, BJ’s, and us, Medfield Village Cleaners! We do our little thing, our customers are incredible, and they rally. In a few weeks, hopefully our store will be overflowing with school supplies.”
Make sure to stop into Medfield Village cleaners to learn more about this wonderful cause and hopefully donate school supplies to support the Corey Griffin supply drive. The items on their wish list include: lunch boxes, water bottles, blankets, glue sticks/liquid glue, crayons, expo markers, Ticonderoga & #2 pencils, colored pencils, highlighters, erasers, child-safe and regular scissors, marble composition books, 1/1.5/2-inch binders, binder dividers, handheld pencil sharpeners, sheet protectors, white out, staples, Lysol and baby wipes, and Ziploc bags.
PA: “My wife and I are both products of Boston Public Schools. We recognize the challenges kids face in the city, as well as the wonderful opportunities that come out of it. It can be a wonderful place. It’s great to get the supplies, but we hope the kids also get the message of a community behind them, supporting them.”
