All-Star Cleaning Services puts employees and the community first

As Laura Smith sees it, house cleaning is about more than dusting, scouring, vacuuming and polishing.

“Our mission is to connect with each client and their home as the unique individuals that they are,” says Smith, who founded All-Star Cleaning Services in Fort Collins, CO, in 2006. “We … strive to foster a positive relationship through communication, creativity and a passion for improving the lives of those we serve.”

From Carpenter Group’s perspective, that mission says as much about Smith as it does about her business. With virtually no family support, she spent much of her childhood in foster and group homes; at 18, she found herself homeless and pregnant. She sheltered at the Fort Collins Rescue Mission, worked two jobs and, on the day she gave birth, moved into her first apartment. Smith’s future was murky, but over the next few years she earned an associate’s degree, got married and had two more children. On a whim, she decided to start a cleaning business. It was just her at first, working alone. Today, All-Star Cleaning employs a staff of 50 and serves some 750 households in northern Colorado.

“I grew up in this community and I was in some poor situations, as a foster kid and eventually a homeless youth,” Smith says. “I had a lot of adults step in and pull me up along the way. As soon as my company was up and going, I was determined to give back.”

The scope and impact of All-Star Cleaning’s brand acts of kindness go far beyond its footprint and client base. The company donates hundreds of hours of cleaning services every year to area nonprofits, including Fort Collins Cat Rescue, Voices Carry Child Advocacy Center and Cleaning for a Reason, which provides free cleanings to women going through cancer treatment. During the first brutal months of the pandemic, All-Star Cleaners ran a “Hometown Heroes” campaign where she donated a four-hour cleaning every day—more than $30,000 worth of services—to a frontline healthcare worker. Perhaps most poignantly, Smith serves on the board of Hope House of Northern Colorado, a non-profit providing support for teenage mothers, and donates a portion of the company’s profits to it every month.

Smith is under no illusion that her employees will be with her for the long haul. “I’m of the belief that this job is but a stop on the road to the rest of their lives, and endeavor to move them up or eventually out and on to bigger and better opportunities, while taking the best care I can of them during their time with me,” she says.

Meanwhile, her focus is on the idea “that there is dignity and value in the work our employees do, both for the clients they serve, and for themselves as they navigate their own opportunities in life. We go out of our way to hire caretakers who want to give back to people, and don’t feel that they’re just cleaning up their dirt.”

 

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About Brand Acts of Kindness® 

Brand Acts of Kindness® is a series from Carpenter Group that spotlights companies across industries that are living their brand values in addressing the unprecedented challenges facing the world today.

The series initially headlined companies assisting healthcare workers and first responders, as well as communities, businesses and families impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. We also highlight brands taking the lead in supporting social and racial justice, LGBTQ rights, sustainability and the environment. Their stories show how innovation, resolve and action, built on a solid value proposition, can both strengthen a brand and help create a better world.

About Carpenter Group

Carpenter Group is an independent, woman-owned strategic branding, messaging and marketing communications firm that has delivered results-driven solutions to financial, professional services and technology firms for 30+ years.

Our broad cross-discipline experience enables us to craft brand messaging and carry it through to the channels that most effectively connect with our clients’ target audience, from editorial content to advertising to event marketing and more.