Dawn Crawley is one of our region’s unsung heroes who support women undergoing cancer treatment, first responders and others with life emergencies. Her cleaning company originally was called House Cleaning Heroes, but she changed it to “Save the Weekend” or STW Cleaning (https://stwcleaning.com/) to reflect a broader dossier that now includes home renovation and commercial cleaning services. But the logo still includes a “Super Girl” figure because the company exists to empower the women Dawn employs as much as it does her customers.
Another of STW’s values is community service and Dawn reflects this by offering “small acts of kindness” to the community. “We say, ‘We may not change the world, but we change the world around us,’ and the way that we do that is through outreach to the community to drive positive change,” Dawn says. Initially, she partnered with Cleaning for a Reason (https://cleaningforareason.org/), which offers free house cleaning for women undergoing treatment for breast cancer. Her own life was touched by the disease when she lost her mother at age 52 to metastatic breast cancer.
Through COVID, STW also supported “front-line” workers like nurses, teachers and even people working in grocery stores, supplying up to 16 hours of cleaning in four-hour increments. Dawn is also on the board of LAWS, the Loudoun Area Women’s Shelter. Once a quarter all her employees are allowed to take a day off to serve the non-profit of their choice. She’s been recognized as Entrepreneur of the Year in 2021 by the Loudoun Chamber of Commerce, by the National Association of Women Business Owners, and the National Association of Business Owners and Entrepreneurs and looks for opportunities to mentor other women in business.
She is, in short, our kind of heroine.