If you think Election Day is just a day to head to the polls, you’re mistaken.  It’s also your annual opportunity to get your pillows cleaned.  And you should.

Thanks to the joint efforts of the Kalona Mennonite Church and Kraft Pillow Service, every Election Day Kraft’s mobile cleaning truck parks in front of the church and hundreds of pillows are made clean and new again. 

“It’s a community project,” says Carol Miller, who helps organize the pillow-cleaning event at the church.  For the last 40 years or so – no one is exactly sure – the church has sponsored the pillow cleaning as a fundraiser.  They use the proceeds to support various relief projects.

People bring in piles of pillows all day long, not just from Kalona, but from the surrounding areas as well.  The constant influx of pillows, along with the need to clean them all that day, keeps Doug and Vanease Kraft busy.

Inside the cleaning truck, the business owners divide up the work. 

Doug cuts open a pillow and empties the fill material into the chamber of one of two cleaning machines.  Inside the chamber, the fill – which might be down or synthetic materials – tumbles as in a washing machine, although there is no water.  Instead, an ozone-emitting ultraviolet light sterilizes and deodorizes the filling.  Dust particles are physically filtered out as the material tumbles.

“One reason people clean these is because they’re dusty,” Doug says, opening the dust trap.  The compartment is filled with gray flakes and fluff.

Once the filling is clean, Doug puts a new pillow cover over a pipe, and the filling is blown into it.  He hands the filled pillow over to Vanease, who uses the sewing machine to stitch it closed.  She slips the nearly new pillow into a plastic bag for protection, and now it is ready to be picked up by its owner.

Vanease says that she and Doug have owned Kraft Pillow Service for 40 years, and that they purchased the company from another couple she thinks may have owned it for 45 years.  Pillow cleaning businesses are becoming increasingly rare as their owners retire and no one takes their place.

The Krafts, who live in Kingsley, Iowa, which is close to the Nebraska border, have been traveling with their mobile cleaning unit for months. 

“This is our last week on the road because of the snow,” Vanease says.  “In the winter we work from home.  We get really busy with Christmas orders.  And then we start back up in April.”

Their business includes cleaning feather beds and comforters, which are a bit more complicated.  Doug explains that because of the channels sewn into this type of bedding, it takes more time to remove the fill, and then it must be weighed out before going back in to ensure even distribution.

Pillow cleaning keeps your pillows clean and hygienic while also conserving the fill material.  However, should you need new pillows, Kraft Pillow Service can also supply those.  They offer 100% cotton covered pillows filled with your choice of 100% European goose down, down and feather combinations, and synthetic imitation down. 

You spend about a third of your life with your head resting on a pillow.  If you missed the opportunity to have yours refreshed this Election Day, mark your calendar. 

Kalona Mennonite Church is located at 902 6th St., Kalona.  Learn more about Kraft Pillow Service at KraftPillowService.com.