The Crest Ink is a quarterly newsletter that celebrates the success of Crest Foods and our employees.
Crest Ink
Volume 29 • Number 03 July, August & September 2017 Ashton, IL 61006 Celebrating Forty Year Employees by Jeff Meiners
What makes a company a special place to work? There certainly are a lot of answers to that question based upon the perspective of each individual that is part of that company. No matter what your answer might be, chances are good that it will include something about the people you work with. Crest has been blessed with so many unique, genuine, good, fun and caring people over the 70 years of our existence. We are taking a moment to say a special thanks to the nine current employees that have spent at least 40 years with Crest. Just imagine…forty years at Crest. Thank you seems like an inadequate thing to say to this group – Carol Milens, Morine Snodgrass, Pam Kelley, Steve Meiners, Ken Drew, Connie Schumacher, Jerry Waters, Chris Pfoutz and Tammy Williams – but, you all have our most sincere thanks and respect. By the way, it goes without saying…all these folks were extremely young when they started at Crest! Connie Schumacher, Tammy Williams, Steve Meiners, Morine Snodgrass & Chris Pfoutz at the annual 40 Year Employee Dinner at the Lincoln Way Inn Bed & Breakfast in May.
In This Issue
10 Year Trips page 5
New Training Room page 7 Ashton Celebration Parade page 9
Crest and the world in general were very different places forty years ago. As a company, we sold as much in a year as we do in an average month today. Jay Meiners, Dick Moeller and Bert Kemp were the owners of Crest and all the people mentioned above had direct ties to at least one of these folks in some way. Entry level wages were somewhere above $2.00 per hour and surprisingly enough they were pretty good for the time. Production for Con- tract Packaging and the Dairy Ingredient Division was done at our facility on Main Street (yes, that small building) and we had just begun construction on the facility on Brown Street which has since been added to dozens of times. Women wore white dresses on the production line and men were dressed in white from head to toe and wore paper caps…and we all struggled together to keep the doors open from month to month. While Ashton looked pretty much the same with the exception of a lively business district downtown, the world was a lot different than the one we know today. Jimmy Carter was President – Apple sold their first computer (should have bought stock) – gas was 65 cents a gallon – Rocky (the first one) was playing in the movie theaters – we watched LaVerne and Shirley on one of the 3 channels we could get on TV – we listened to our music on 8-track tapes that often played two tracks at once – we listened to rock music on WLS on the AM radio – Elvis Pre- sley was still alive (until August of 1977). The world and Crest have changed so much since that time. However, the best things about Crest…our people and our culture continue with the same excellence and character that was also our foundation 40 years ago. Thanks again to our 40 year employees to leading the way for the rest of us. Getting to Know 40 Year Employees Ken Drew (Karlin Warehouse Manager) Years at Crest: 47 What was your first job at Crest Foods? My first job was to dump non-dairy coffee creamer for the only produc- tion line Crest had at that time. It was located where the Crest fitness center is now. What brought you to Crest Foods to work? The money! I was working for a lumber yard in Franklin Grove mak- ing $1.85/hr and started with Crest making $2.25/hr. shortly after that I went out and bought a car! What is your favorite work memory over the years? It was the time the ladies on my line gave my wife and I a baby shower for our first son. It was held in the break room which only could hold about 8 to 10 people and that was squeezing them in tight. Where did you go for your 10 year trip? I went to the North Island of New Zealand for three weeks to visit friends and to sight see. What do you remember about Ashton 40 years ago? The downtown! It was still only two blocks long but it had everything you would need. Most memorable co-worker you’ve worked with over the years? Well, I have two! Jan Warner and Neil Henert. I worked closely with both and both are considered to be good friends. What would surprise most people today about working at Crest 40 years ago? Breakrooms, restrooms and the men wore paper hats and the women wore hair nets. Also, the Crest philosophy has not changed from one gen- eration to the other. Chris Pfoutz (Administrative Assistant) Years at Crest: 46 What was your first job at Crest Foods? Hand labeling squat containers in the Main Street warehouse. What brought you to Crest Foods to work? I wanted to work to make money. What is your favorite work memory over the years? There are too many to list, but I thoroughly enjoyed work- ing for Dick Moeller, Bert Kemp, and Charlie Nash. Where did you go for your 10 year trip? Hawaii What do you remember about Ashton 40 years ago? Everyone knew everyone on a first name basis.
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Most memorable co-worker you’ve worked with over the years? Jim Schultz What would surprise most people today about working at Crest 40 years ago? It goes without saying it was a much smaller company . . . Jeff Meiners was in college, no acreage out west, and no key fobs. Jerry Waters (Maintenance A-Shift) Years at Crest: 45 What was your first job at Crest Foods? Warehouse & Mixing What brought you to Crest Foods to work? I was laid off from working in construction. What is your favorite work memory over the years? Dick Moeller – “Hey can I borrow a quarter?” Where did you go for your 10 year trip? Disney in Florida What do you remember about Ashton 40 years ago? The town had more stores, gas stations and restaurants. What would surprise most people today about working at Crest 40 years ago? The products we ran and the way we did things. Morine Snodgrass (Scheduling Clerk) Years at Crest: 44 What was your first job at Crest Foods? Working on a bulk pack line. What brought you to Crest Foods to work? My husband had an accident, so I needed to work. What is your favorite work memory over the years? When we used to have Christmas parties with dinner and dancing. Where did you go on your 10 year trip? Hawaii What do you remember about Ashton 40 years ago? We had a drug store and a business like a dime store. What would surprise most people today about working at Crest 40 years ago? Women had to wear dresses. Carol Milens (Accountant) Years at Crest: 41 What was your first job at Crest Foods? Hired by Dick Moeller keeping track of inventory. What brought you to Crest Foods to work? Moved back to Illinois looking for employment. What is your favorite memory over the years? My favorite memories are of working with those who are helpful and cheerful while bringing answers and results. Working with my department and/or departments; calling custom- ers regarding payment discrepancies; and calling credit applicants who quickly respond with information. Where did you go for your 10 year trip? Australia What do you remember about Ashton 40 years ago? Where it was 40 years ago and how it has grown. Most memorable co-worker you’ve worked with over the years? I have memories of co-workers at different segments of time that I’ve been here, and I’ve seen people come and go. When I started at Crest, Dick, Ruth, Jay, Shirley W., Norbert, Carmen, Jan, Ardella and Joyce were among the first people I met at my beginnings in the Crest Foods family. What would surprise most people today about working at Crest 40 years ago? I may be the only of a few who remember Standard Brands. Pam Kelley (Scheduling Manager) Years at Crest: 40 What was your first job at Crest Foods? Working on the dairy creamer line at the north plant during high school. What brought you to Crest Foods to work? Living in town it was close, the hours were good and you could walk to work. What is your favorite work memory over the years? When the warehouse went from a hand index file for loca- tions to a computer system where we could actually find stuff. Where did you go for your 10 year trip? Jamaica What do you remember about Ashton 40 years ago? That we used to have a nice downtown business district with many stores and you did not have to leave town for everything.
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What would surprise most people today about working at Crest 40 years ago? How most things were done by hand with the exception of the actual bartelt machines and we had no computer systems to find or record things. Connie Schumacher (Production A-Shift) Years at Crest: 40 What was your first job at Crest Foods? Stacker for Frank Zittle (boy the stories I could tell you..) What brought you to Crest Foods to work? I was going to go to school and needed money, so I thought I’d work for 1 year. Where did you go for your 10 year trip? Las Vegas – wish I could go again! What do you remember about Ashton 40 years ago? Co-op Gas Station across the street where I live. Wolf ’s- Standard Gas Station on the corner by the post office. Ron’s Supermarket on Main Street by Village Hall. Most memorable co-worker you’ve worked with over the years? There’s been a many. What would surprise most people today about working at Crest 40 years ago? Maybe 100 employees or less, and now we have about 600. I made $2.00/hour but yet we actually had a little money. Steve Meiners (VP Corporate Sales) Years at Crest: 40 What was your first job at Crest Foods? My very first job at Crest was painting when I was quite young. Buckskin Tan was the color of the buildings and I think I painted every one. My first REAL job at Crest was second/third shift production supervisor in contract packaging. What brought you to Crest Foods to work? I was working at Muller Pinehurst for two years after college when my father called me and said he had an opportunity with a job opening as a supervisor. What is your favorite work memory over the years? Oh my ... there are so many. One of the best moments was my first real sale. It was with Lipton. They owned Wyler Brand at the time. We ran unsweetened Wyler Drinks for about a year and a half. This was a really big deal back then! Where did you go for your 10 year trip? This is stretching my memory because I took my trip 10+ years after I actually earned it. I believe I used this on a family vacation to Grand Cayman. What do you remember about Ashton 40 years ago? Two bars. Two gas stations. Population sign at 1000. Lots of corn and soybeans. Really Ashton was about the same as it is today ... things do not change much here. Crest Foods was much much smaller in terms of both number of people and facilities. I am guessing about 25% the size of what we are today. Most memorable co-worker you’ve worked with over the years? It is very tough to single out one person since there have been hundreds of memorable people over the years ... memorable odd & strange, memorable dedi- cated & professional. Safer for me to go with the later and I picked Norbert Dunkel. Norbert was the man in charge of our stabilizer blending facility for years early in my career. His story of being separated from his family when the war broke out and being forced to fight for Hitler was an epic story. He had an amazing memory! He worked in the plant in an era where there were no written formulas. Hard to believe but he had them all in his head. And he knew where every bag of ingredient was stored and how much we had without weighing product or counting bags. Even when the auditors would challenge his memory he proved he was right on. Amazing. Norbert (and actually his wife Agnus who worked in the plant) were certainly not the only dedicated Crest employees but they do represent the work ethic that built Crest Foods and keeps us a leader in our industry today. What would surprise most people today about working at Crest 40 years ago? I had a hand in making the decision to purchase our first computer system from IBM. Actually went to IBM implementation training for a week in Chicago. Tammy Williams (Production A-Shift) Years at Crest: 40
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Jesus Garcia (Production B-Shift) Our trip was to Tennessee where we attended a wedding for my niece, Arianil. It was nice to see everyone that I hadn’t seen in years. I had my brother fly out from California and my sister came all the way from New Mexico. Thank you for my trip. Jesus 10 Year Trips Crest Foods thanks employees who reach their 10 Year Anniversary with the company by giving them money to go on a trip! Below are just a few of the employees who have reached this milestone recently.
Nephew Eustaccio, brothers Domingo and Juan, myself (Jesus Garcia), my sisters Marcella, Velia and Maria
Bride (my niece)Arianil, Groom Juan
Erskine Sturges (Sanitation C-Shift) My ten year trip was spent in Houston, Texas, during the first week in May. I visited many relatives and had cook outs every day. I also went fishing. It was just a great time to visit relatives that I haven’t seen in years. I just want to thank the Meiners for everything. Erskine Jim Kettley (Production A-Shift)
My daughter, Amy Drew, her husband Adam (Adam also works at Crest Foods) and her children went to the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago with me. I wanted to take my grandkids and met up with my Godson, Lance. We had a good time. It was nice to see the kids’ reactions to the exhibits. We also enjoyed dinner out on the way home. We took another day trip to Chicago to go to the Field Museum because my grandson, Levi, loves di- nosaurs. He likes to see dinosaur bones. We also watched a 3-D dinosaur movie. The kids loved the gift shops at both places. Thank you Crest Foods for the opportunity to make memories with my family. Jim
July, August & September 2017 Crest Ink 5
Walking Club is Back! by Jamie Cooper & Erika Meiners
It was a rainy start to the season! The downpour that I drove to Dixon in left me surprised to see that so many Crest employees had shown up to walk/run 3 miles in the rain! By the start of the Make-A-Wish 5K, the rain had let up and everyone who ran it stayed dry. Those of us who walked had a different end to the race, but we had fun. We had a great turnout as well for the Ashton Community Walk in June. Clear skies and ice cream at the finish line - what more could you ask for in a 5K? We have 5 more events to go, and it’s never too late to join us! Contact Jamie (x270) or Erika (x201) if you’d like to come and walk or run in any of the events left in the season. Every time you participate, you are supporting many deserving organizations in the local area, especially Kreider Services, the organization we have decided to raise money for this year! Thanks again to everyone for taking the time to come out and walk or run this season!
Andra Meiners, Heidi McGlown, Kelly Stevens, Justin Guenther, Phyllis Ott
(back) Ariel Cook, Jim Rhodes (& his daughter), April Cover, Missy Avery, Carmen Reuter, Jamie Cooper, Beckie Talley, Gay Huber, Savannah Dees, Val Smith, Matt Richardson, Georgia Temmen, Kristina McWethy, Nick Litts, Danielle Reinhart, Dino Chavez, Mike Meiners, Steve Meiners, Cheri Kemp, Joyce Meiners. (front) Holly Glei- ssner, Sherry Joos, Trish Carter, Matthias Kemmeren, Alfonzo Alvara- do, Stephanie Eich, Chad Reed, Kerry Tumleson, Ben Fichter
June Danekas
Jason Rowl, Bill & Elizabeth Cover
Chad Reed & Alfonzo Alvarado
Manny Quintana & Alma Hernandez
Ana Hueramo, Tina Johnson, Aurora Abarca, Alma Hernandez, Maria Alanis, Jasey Moore (& her 2 kids), Nick Litts, Amy Banister
Make-A-Wish 5K
Run for the Way 5K
$1120.00 raised
7/1
9/30
Autumn on Parade 5K
5/20
10/21
Reagan Run 5K
$1280.00 raised
Haunted Halloween 5K
6/10
9/2
10/8
Ashton Community Walk
Stronghold Castle 5K
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Redzone Update by Jared Stumpenhorst This May we had our first Kaizen event! What is a Kai- zen you ask? It is a event where we gathered together people from multiple departments to work on and try to resolve an issue. Well, for this first one the issue we worked on was web failures. Because of the data that everyone is putting into Redzone we were able to identify that as the top reason for downtime at Crest Foods. After an intense week of work we found a number of oppor- tunities for improvement. Look for more information on the findings from this event and look for information on what our next Kaizen event topic will be coming soon! Thanks to everyone that participated and made this first Kaizen a huge success!
Brent Warner, Denton Yocum, Natasha Pranga, Jared Stumpenhorst, Tammy Liston, Jim Shuck, Ben Esgar, Jessica Fair, Kim Gallagher, Karen Yardley and Eric Jogun from Redzone
New Training Room at Crest Foods by Garett Meiners
Back in early 2015 we expanded our equipment storage area in at the main plant and during the construction pro- cess we created a 1,700 sq ft room that has been left unfinished and empty. A few months ago we finally came up with a purpose for that room...TRAINING! Our new room will used for new employee orientations, the occasional meeting and employee training. Crest Foods can be a very overwhelming place to work especially during your first few days here and we think our new room can help with that issue. Our new training room will be fully equipped with a state of the art audio/visual system for class room type training and several hands on learning stations where employees touch, feel and experience the different scenarios they may encounter out of the floor. Our new room should be up and operational later this summer. Stay tuned.
July, August & September 2017 Crest Ink 7
Give Back Program by Cheri Kemp
Jangled nerves gave way to excited applause as the three student groups learned their fate following their presentations. For some of these students, this was a repeat performance as they had participated in the Give Back Program before. The three schools participating this year were Rochelle Township High School Student Council; Dixon High School Student Council and Key Club and Ashton-Franklin Center High School FFA. Just to give a brief explanation of the Give Back Pro- gram, Crest Foods invites area high school organiza- tions to pick a charity, prepare a presentation on why their charity should be given a tidy sum of money, and in doing so, the students learn about the charity; learn how to prepare and present a winning argument for their cause; and hopefully develop a sense of giving back to their community and how good volunteerism can feel. It is no small feat for these students and their advisors to take the time to pick their charity, research it and prepare their material and practice for the presentation. Our hats are off to each and every one of the students and teachers involved in this program. Ashton-Franklin Center FFA gave arguments in support of the Ashton Community Foundation, established in 2012, which provides assistance for those in the Ashton, Franklin Grove and Lee Center communities when situa- tions beyond someone’s control can become a hardship. In the last 5 years over $25,000 has been distributed to more than 100 families in times of need. The students, Jay Long, Jesus Agular, Tyler Crowell, Jonah Hilliker, Dylan Frady, Emalie Vogeler and Emily Stone each took their turn at the podium to describe what can be accomplished with these funds. Some of the money in the fund was used to purchase an iPad for a child to use while his mother was spending large amounts of time in the hospital; a family had to travel for medical treatment for a child and funds were used to help with hotel expenses; after the tornado of 2015, funds were used to assist families who suf- fered damage. This is just the tip of the iceberg. You could feel the dedication these students had in providing a boost to the Ashton Community Foundation funds with the money they would receive from their hard work in preparing their plan. The Rochelle Rescue Mission was to be the recipient of any funds the Rochelle Township High School Student Council would be awarded. The students involved were Ande Madsen, Kanaan Childers, Zephan Drew, DiQuan Ishmon and Fabian Hueramo. The students of RTHS have been holding fundraisers within their school for many years to donate to the RRM. Within their own school there are 43 students who are considered homeless. A big goal of this group, for the benefit of the RRM, is to have a family space where families can be kept together. As it is, men and women are segregated, even if they are in the same family. This push for family space came about from one of the RTHS homeless students own story. Because men and women are segregated, he could not stay with his mother and he felt that separation impacted him tremendously. The RRM has many needs that are taken care of to the extent they can be with donations. Those needs cover a wide variety of things that most any home uses from toiletries to food. The Student Council and Key Club of the Dixon High School was also prepared with persuasive skills to present Back: DiQuon Ishmon, Fabian Hueramo, Kanaan Childers, Zephan Drew, Jonathan Rivera, Jesus Agular, Dylan Frady, Emalie Vogeler and Emily Stone. Front: Ande Madson. Caroline Costello and Isabelle Lindenmeyer. Not pictured: Jay Long, Tyler Crowell, Jonah Hilliker who left for an AFC Baseball game
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their case for the Lee County Council on Aging. Caroline Costello, Jonathan Rivera, Isabel Lindenmeyer have each volunteered time working at the LCCOA. It takes many volunteers to make this a success and these students vol- unteered to help. The LCCOA provides education, recreation, wellness, financial counseling, Medicare counsel- ing, information on financial assistance that seniors might not be aware of and much more to residents of the county over age 50. Game days and exercise classes are held at the LCCOA as well as a Senior Prom. One of the goals of this group, with the funds awarded, is to help the LCCOA purchase amplification phones for use of the senior citizens and provide additional activities for the seniors. A large number of Crest Foods employees were present to listen to these groups and then tasked with the diffi- cult job of making a decision on awarding the funds. It took some deliberation and voting to award the three levels of grants. Jeff Meiners told the group “We can tell all three groups worked very hard and we liked your knowledge of your subject and level of involvement. So based on presentation and involvement, we will award Rochelle Township High School $2,500; Dixon High School $1,500 and Ashton-Franklin Center $1,000.” Again, Crest Foods would like to thank each of these groups for their involvement in our program. Everyone walks away a winner when funds can be given to something you have a passion for. We encourage young and old alike to try volunteering. You might just find you enjoy it! Ashton Celebration Parade Celebrating EMT’s & First Responders at Crest Foods Crest Foods participated in the Ashton Celebration Parade on Sunday, June 11th. The theme was “Celebrating Heroes” and we chose to feature our employees who are volunteer EMT’s and First Responders at Crest Foods! We have 15 employees who currently fill this role for us, and we appreciate their commitment to helping our employees whenever they are needed. These employees are: Matt Richardson (EMT), Brian Schafer (EMT), Ben Yates (EMT), Dean Rhodes (EMT), Randy Reuter (First Responder), Alfonzo Alvarado (First Responder), Cat Larson (First Re- sponder), Justin Guenther (First Responder), David Henrikson (First Responder), Ben Nelson (First Responder), Stina Kanaris (First Responder), Dakota Olalde (First Responder), Jesse Morris (First Responder), Marc Smith (First Responder) and Stephanie Eich (First Responder) A special thanks goes to those who came out to walk and throw candy in the parade on a 90 degree afternoon! This group was the proud recepient of the Grand Marshal’s Award!
Jesse Morris, Stephanie Eich, Alfonzo Alvarado, Randy Reuter, Ben Nelson, Matt, Courtney & Jordan Richardson represented for the EMT & First Responder group.
July, August & September 2017 Crest Ink 9
Crest Happenings
Our Sympathy To the Yates and Loomis families on the death of Matt Yates. Matt was a brother to Dan Yates (Production Supervisor A) and Jenny Loomis, (Production A) and brother in law to Joe Loomis (Ing. Div. Warehouse) and uncle to John Loomis (W. Warehouse A). Our sympathy to all. Thank You I want to thank Crest and everyone for their prayers, thoughts, cards, letters, well wishes, etc. while I am recuper- ating from my surgery, taking chemo and doing rehab. Your caring means a lot. Carol Milens (Accounting) Dear Crest Foods and Employees: Thank you so much for the retirement party! It was so good to see everyone. Thank you for all the love and support you have shown this past year. Thank you for the past 33 years, you have become part of my family. Hope to see you around. God bless – Love, Garnie Stevens Wedding Bells Congratulations to Lori Wolfe (Production A) and Jim Nalley (Mix A) on their May 21st marriage. Mark Beasley (Sanitation A) and Lindsey Berogan (Produc- tion A) were married on May 28th. Jamie Karas, daughter of Jeff Karas (Engineering Electrician) married her longtime boyfriend and fiancé, Max Fletcher, on Friday June 2, 2017, at the Onion Pub in Lake Barrington, IL. Jeff and his wife Karen, his mother, Rosemarie, and his aunt, Shirley Peterson, attended the wedding together. Gene Hodges (Production A) and Hannah Weiler were married on June 3rd. New Arrivals Congratulations to Ed (Mix B) and Donna Weiler on the birth of their granddaughter, Nicole Elizabeth Borell. Nicole was born March 13, 2017 to Andrea and Bryson Borell. She has a brother Bradley at home. She weighed 5.6 lbs. and was 17 inches long. Congratulations to Mikayla Cox (Production B) on the birth of her son, James Edward Cox. He was born on March 14th and weighed 7 lbs. and was 20 inches long.
Congratulations to Aireal Cook (Production C) and Jim Rhodes (Production C) on the birth of their son, Jameson Glenn Rhodes. He was born April 2, 2017 and weighed 7 lbs. 3 oz. and was 20 ½ inches long. Shelley Schopp (Scheduling) and Kevin O’Dell (Purchasing) are now proud grandparents, and pleased to announce the birth of their grandson, Hudson Lee Hunter. Hudson was born on May 16th and weighed 8 lbs. 11 oz. and was 21 inches long. His parents are Lindsey and Carrigan Hunter of Dixon. He is also welcomed by Uncle Kyle O’Dell (Ingredi- ent Div. A) Congratulations to Lonny (Ingredient A) and Wendy Briggs on the birth of Sunshine Athea Briggs born 6/9/17. She weighted 5 lbs. 7 oz. and was 20 inches long. She has a big brother, Lonny Jr., age 7. Ron Amrein (Ingredient Division Maintenance Manager) is a grandfather for the 10th time! His daughter, Dawn and hus- band Erich Bangert, of Carmel, Indiana welcomed their 4th son on June 15. George Oliver weighed 9 lbs. 8 oz. and was 23 1/2 inches long. On Thursday, June 15th at 4:32pm a baby boy was born to Alyssa Larson and her fiance Matthew Mc Hugh of Ft. My- ers, FL. Bentley Wayne Mc Hugh weighed in at 8 lbs and was 20 1/2 inches long. This is the first grandchild for Susan (Payroll Manager) and Jeff Larson. Congratulations Bureau Valley on May 11th. At State she placed 3rd in long jump with a leap of 17’8”. She also broke her own school record of 17’3” at the Sectionals. Her relay team finished 3rd with a time of 4:05. The relay team was also able to break the previous school record which was 4:09 set 11 years ago. Congratulations to Katelynn on graduating from Amboy High School on June 1, 2017. Grace Friday, daughter of Craig (W. Warehouse A) and Te- resa Friday, graduated with the AFC Class of 2017. Grace was the Salutatorian of her class. She will be attending SVCC in pursuit of her nursing career. To Katelynn Pankhurst, daughter of Mar- shall Pankhurst (Ingredient Div. C) on a job well done at the state track meet on May 20th in Charleston, IL and the Sectionals at
10 Crest Ink July, August & September 2017
Crest Happenings
Congratulations Justyn Coggin, grandson of Tom (Ing. Tech Services) and Pat Clayton, graduated from Brookwood High School in Snellville, GA. He will start classes at Georgia Southern University as a second semester Sophomore. Alyssa Carter, daughter of Jeannie Carter (QA), graduated from 8th grade at AFC this spring. Brittany Sanderson, daughter of Cheryl Sanderson (Produc- tion A) graduated from NIU with a BA in Health and Hu- man Science. Samantha Rockwood, granddaughter of Sandi (Karlin Ware- house) and Don (Sanitation A) Stover, graduated from AFC High School. She has enlisted in the United States Air Force and will report to San Antonio, Texas for basic training and technical school in the fall. After her graduation from Basic Training in December she will attend a university in South Carolina, majoring in law enforcement and criminology. Nicolas Schafer and Dallas Schafer, sons of Brian Schafer (Facilities Manager) graduated from Amboy High School on May 21, 2017. Dallas will be pursuing a nursing career at SVCC and Nicolas is going into a career of automotive mechanics. Casi Kurschner, granddaughter of Pam Furman (Cons. Products Lab) was offered her first teaching job this summer. She will be teaching at Ark Day Care in Dixon for K-5th. She is going into her Senior year at ISU.
Tess Kurschner, granddaughter of Pam Furman (Cons. Products Lab), graduated from Polo High School and will be attending Sauk Valley Community College this fall. Congratulations to Logan Burnette, daughter of Lynn Burnette (Payroll) on receiving her Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing from Millikin University. Logan has accepted a job at Decatur Memorial Hospital in their Labor and Delivery Unit and she will be working the Level 2 nursery as well.
Congratulations to the Crest-sponsored team on their Beast of the Worst award in the Rock Falls basketball league. Pictured from Crest are Mike Spencer (Mix A) & Jerry Sik- kema (Mix B). Not pictured are Joe Neal (Mix B) and Keith Larson (Production B).
Happy 90th Birthday to DeLores “Queen of
Hearts” Meiners! (April 26, 2017)
Ricardo Guijosa (Production C) and Maria Torres (Production A) were surprised with a baby shower by their fellow employees. As you might guess, the baby is going to be a girl! Congratulations to the entire Guijosa family. Karla Rivera (Production A) is expecting twins, one boy and one girl! To surprise her co-workers, Karla had Sherry Joos bake a cake with pink and blue frost- ing, and Karla wore 2 t-shirts, one pink and one blue. During their lunch, Karla brought out cake to share and showed off her two different color t-shirts to let everyone know the gender of her twins. We wish Karla and her family the best as they await the arrival of these two little bundles of joy!
Baby Showers
Sherry Joos & Karla Rivera Maria Torres & Ricardo Guijosa
July, August & September 2017 Crest Ink 11
Congratulations! Congratulations to the following employees for obtaining new jobs at Crest over the past few months!
Stina Kanaris QA Lead Line Tech B-Shift
Julie Tomblin Quality Specialist (#7) B-Shift
Matt Downing QA Audit Supervisor B-Shift
CIP 2017 3rd Quarter Winners The Continuous Improvement Program (CIP) is a program where employees may submit suggestions on ways they think can improve Crest Foods. These suggestions may help improve overall efficiency, employee safety, sani- tation, record keeping, maintenance and various other areas around Crest Foods. We received 18 suggestions from employees for the 3rd quarter. Thank you to everyone for participating! Jen Lally, Production A-Shift 3rd Quarter 1st Place • $250
Jerry Maronde, Maintenance B-Shift 3rd Quarter Runner Up • $150 Use an improved pouch thumper designed to use less parts and easier for set up. This is a great improvement to the design that we currently use. Mark Leigh, Production B-Shift & John Messenger, Maintenance B-Shift 3rd Quarter Runners Up • $150 each Set up strip curtains instead of bellows on scissor lifts. Bellows are expensive to replace and are really difficult to clean under. Great idea! We have one set up to trial. The vacuum attachments have specific uses. All of them are stainless in color, and we have no way to tell between them. Which are to be used on food contact surfaces or non-food contact surfaces? I suggest we color code these attachments for food surfaces and the floor. Great idea! We have ordered color coded tools that we will trial soon.
Log In And Win Contest!
Deb Worley and Henry Bunger took advantage of learning how to log in and register on the Caremark prescription plan website and were winners of a $25 gift card. All employees who enrolled in their Rx account through CVS/Caremark were entered into a drawing for gift cards. Congratulations to our winners. We thank all those who took the time to get registered on the website. It is not too late to register. You will be able to find a lot of useful information about your prescription program on the CVS/Caremark website. Please see your insurance ID card for the web address.
Henry Bunger
Deb Worley
12 Crest Ink July, August & September 2017
Reminders from the Payroll Office by Susan Larson Fiscal Year End Reviews & Bonuses. By printing time all yearly reviews will be on their way to being completed. This is a busy time of year for department managers and the Payroll office. I thought that I would explain the employee review process, give some stats from last year, and answer some frequently asked questions. In 2016 there were 549 reviews completed for Crest hourly employees. For 2017 that number is just about the same so please be patient while waiting for your supervisor to speak with you on your results, especially for the bigger departments. For 2016 the bonus dollars paid out to Crest Foods hourly employees was over $450,000.00. This number included regular bonus dollars (based on your division) and incentive bonuses paid out to employees who were capped in their current salary range and scored between a 4 and 5 on their review. This included 82 employees last year. To qualify to receive a bonus, you must be an active employee on July 31st and have enough qualifying worked hours in the fiscal year. Bonuses are paid out in the form of a check and are not direct deposited into your normal account. Bonus checks are handed out personally by a member of the Meiners family during your work day either on July 31st or the last business day of July. For 2017 this will be Monday, July 31st. How do you know if you qualify for a cap bonus? Upon receiving reviews back from the various departments, I begin entering scores into a master employee sheet which will look at your current rate of pay vs current and new pay scales. This process identifies the employees who were in the capped salary area last year, and also those who met a capped hourly wage last year. Employees do not qualify for this bonus on the year that your hourly wage hits the top of the pay grade that you are in. You must complete a whole year at that pay rate. The next step in the qualification is to determine what each of those employees received for a final review score and whether it meets the current years’ scoring requirement, which in prior years has been equal to a score of 4, 4.5 or 5. For each em- ployee who meets the scoring requirement, we then figure each employees yearly base salary (ex. $15.00 x 2080 = $31,200.00) then multiply that number by the percentage assigned to their score. Contract Packaging Division employees should watch the bulletin boards in each building where there is a posting that is updated every 4 to 5 weeks with an estimate of where your gross bonus is during the fiscal year. For all the Corporate & Ingredient divisions the bonus dollars are determined by the Crest Foods Board of Directors meeting in June and is coordinated with your employee review score and regular hours worked during the fiscal year. Annual Incentive Raises. Traditionally, the first Monday of August Crest Foods gives out incentive raises based on the final review score that you receive on your annual performance review. The raise percentages are de- termined by the Crest Foods Board of Directors. Postings for the August 7th raises will be posted in July. These raises will go into effect on August 7th and you will then see them on the August 18th pay check. A question that I am asked frequently is how this works if you are close to the top of your pay scale? So the following is an example: Any employee who reaches the top of their pay scale may not see the full percentage amount and only go to the top of their pay scale. An example would be if your current rate of pay is at $14.50 and the top of you pay scale is $15.00. If you receive a score of a 5, which is determined to be a 5% raise, this would equal out to a $.73 per hour increase. You will be capped out at $15.00 and only receive $.50 for this raise. For those of you who work B or C shift the raise is calculated off of your base pay rate not including your shift premium. If you have any questions about either of these topics, please stop by my office or call me (ext 235).
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Shane Stover Teaches Dogs New Tricks by Cheri Kemp
The enthusiasm in his voice as Shane Stover spoke about his dogs was very apparent as the words fairly flew from his mouth. This is obviously someone who loves dogs and loves working with them. Most of us have or have had a dog at some point in our lifetime and enjoy the championship a dog offers. Shane has always had an affinity for the canine species and has developed that love into a hobby that gives him great pleasure. First training dogs to retrieve birds, then to shed hunt (this means to hunt for deer antlers) as well as training dogs to dock dive, has kept Shane a very busy man. He not only trains his own dogs, but has been asked to train dogs for other people. I asked Shane how he got started training a dog to be a shed hunter. Shane said that about 12 years ago, he started training his own dog, Sadie, a yellow Lab, to retrieve birds, such as ducks, pheasant and quail. “I wanted something to keep Sadie busy, more for fun and not for competition, so started training her to be a retriever.” Sadly, Sadie has since passed. Over the years Shane continued to train his other dogs to retrieve. Then about 4 years ago, his interest was sparked by hearing about shed hunting dogs. This seemed a natural progression from training dogs to retrieve birds to training them to retrieve sheds. Every April Shane takes his dogs to the world finals in Minnesota. This year Shane said there were over 120 dogs qualified for this final. “I took 4 dogs and did OK but I have done better. Still, it was a good experience for all of us. I have even organized some of my own events. In September 2014 I organized the very first event ever held in Illinois, in Kirkland. There were about 35 dogs at that event. Then in 2016 I organized one in Pecatonica.” Currently Shane has Jake, who is a Chesapeake Bay Retreiver, and Lucy, one of Jake’s pup’s who are part of the North American Shed Hunting Dog Association. Jake is a Master titled shed hunter for the NASHDA and Lucy is a Senior titled shed hunter. In training, a dog practices shed hunting with a dummy antler that begins with a little playing and retrieving the dummy antler from obvious places. There is even a deer scented wax that is put on the dummy antler that helps the dog find it. “It is a lot of nose work for the dog.” said Stover. As time goes on, the dummy antler is moved and hidden in more difficult to spy places and the amount of the scent wax is reduced to make it more difficult to find. In active competition, real antlers are used. The judges hide 6 antlers in various places in wooded areas. The dog has 15 minutes to find all 6 antlers. As the dog improves its time and score, he or she will move from Junior status, to Senior status and finally Master status. Shane has taken his dogs to competi tions in Michigan, Wisconsin, Missouri, Minnesota and Ohio. Through these competitions Shane has met a lot of people and through word of mouth, has earned a reputation for training dogs. “I had to go to classes to be trained to be a trainer. I have gone to seminars to learn more; taken bits and pieces from talking to other trainers and have developed my own style over the years.”
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“When I get a dog to train, I have it for three to five months. Obedience is part of the training. You have to train the dog to behave so they can learn to retrieve. The dogs stay in my kennel and I work with them every day. I also take them to events. Some owners only want their dog trained for themselves, not to be competition dogs. Others want their dogs trained so they are ready to compete. When the dog has reached the level that the owner wants, he or she goes back to the owner. I have been so busy training that I have less time to hunt for myself.” I asked Shane how he does not get attached to these dogs he has for months at a time and he said “as long as I go into it thinking ‘this is not my dog’, I can send the dog back home to its owner. Sometimes I see the dog again at competitions so I can see how they are doing.” Currently Shane has 5 dogs in training and he primarily trains Labs and Chesapeake Bay retrievers. To add to the busy schedule, Shane is also training his dogs and others for dock jumping. This is where a dog charges up a ramp and launches themselves into a pool of water for distance. “Southtown K-9 in Rock Falls (Il- linois) does some seminars there for people interested in dock jumping. Last year Jake & Lucy qualified for the Ultimate Air Games to be held at Purina Farms in St. Louis later this year!” Anyone interested in learning more about shed hunting or dock jumping can visit the website http://southtownk9. com or contact Shane at Illinoissheddogs@aol.com. You can also search out the Illinois Shed Dogs page on Face book. New Crest Ink: Email Edition by Kristina McWethy Crest Foods’ longest running communication tool that goes out to employees and customers is now available in an email format! Opt in now and you will receive the Crest Ink delivered directly to your inbox beginning with the next issue. Want a preview? Here’s how the email edition will work:
Interested? Head over to www.CrestFoods.com/News-Room/Crest-Ink to sign up for the email newsletter. If you’re already a print subscriber, you can choose to opt out of the printed newsletter at the same time or choose to receive both. **Please note: employees are eligible to receive the email newsletter but can’t opt out of the printed Crest Ink.** In addition, we’re pleased to announce that the past two years of Crest Ink newsletters are now archived online for you to view at any time. Just visit www.CrestFoods.com/News-Room/Crest-Ink and click on a cover to view the digital version of that newsletter. We hope you enjoy this enhancement!
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2017 March Charity Madness Every year, Crest Foods customers are selected to participate in a special March Madness competition focused on charitable giving. Each of the 64 customer teams is assigned a seed at random with the goal of making it to the final four so the charity of their choice can receive a donation from Crest in their honor. One wild card team is also drawn at random for an additional charitable donation. Below are the charities benefiting this year.
$1,500 to Vermont Foodbank www.vtfoodbank.org • 802.476.341 • 33 Parker Road, Barre, VT 05641 The Vermont Foodbank works with over 225 network and agency partners to provide nutri-
tious food in every county in the state. They also work with organizations to address the root causes of poverty and reduce overall food waste. Every $10 gift allows the Foodbank to provide 30 meals to a neighbor in need. This $1,500 donation will yield 4,500 meals! $1,000 to A Soldier’s Child Foundation www.asoldierschild.org • 1.844.HERO (4376) • P.O. Box 11242, Murfreesboro, TN 37129 The mission of A Soldier’s Child Foundation is to serve the children of military personnel who have lost their lives on active duty while defending the US. The three core areas of service are: an- nual birthday celebrations up to age 18, summer camp mentorship programs and college scholar- ships. The foundation works with over 2,500 children located in all 50 states. $500 to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital www.stjude.org • 800.822.6344 • 262 Danny Thomas Place, Memphis, TN 38105 St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital is focused on treating, curing and preventing pediatric cata- strophic diseases. Since it was opened more than 50 years ago, treatments invented at St. Jude have helped push the overall cancer survival rate from 20% to more than 80%. Children worldwide have benefitted from St. Jude treatments, and families never receive a bill for treatment, travel, housing or food. $500 to Family & Childcare Resources of N.E.W. www.fcrnew.org • 800.738.8899 • 201 W. Walnut Street, Suite 100, Green Bay, WI 54303 Family & Childcare Resources of Northeast Wisconsin is dedicated to supporting healthy child development by providing high quality education, support and programs to families and early child hood professionals. Services include child social, emotional, physical and mental development assistance, compre- hensive parenting skills and aiding in the prevention of child abuse and neglect. The National MS Society is working toward a world free of MS, a central nervous system disease affecting the brain and manifesting itself in a wide range of unpredictable symptoms including mobility issues, loss of vision, slurred speech and memory and concentration issues. The Ohio Valley Chapter works to improve the quality of life for people affected by MS in Southern Ohio/Northern Kentucky and raise funds for critical MS research. ***As an added bonus this year, all participants were provided with a $10 donation code to use at www.Do- norsChoose.org, a nationwide nonprofit that supports a wide variety of public school classroom projects in need of funding. Our customers have used their codes to help teachers in their communities purchase tools like musical instruments, audio headphones, flexible classroom seating and backpacks for at-risk youth. $500 to National MS Society of the Ohio Valley www.nationalmssociety.org/Chapters/OHG • 800.344.4867 • 4440 Lake Forest Drive, Suite 120, Cincinnati, OH 45242
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Stress & Anxiety by Madeline Schulze, MSW,QMHP
“I’m so stressed out.” Does this sound familiar? Stress is a real thing that we all experience and it can lead to anxiety. Modern life involves deciding between so many priorities and we can feel overwhelmed at times or feel like we are neglecting something. There is work, family, school, financial obligations, community involvement, and every thing in between that we feel like we are trying to juggle. All of this can lead to increased stress. The truth is that when stress turns in to anxiety, it can make a person feel paralyzed by all of their responsibilities and the things that are outside of their control. Anxiety often looks like the following: • Racing thoughts • Feeling shaky • Indecisiveness • Restlessness • Forgetfulness • High irritability • Feeling overwhelmed all of the time • Muscle tension • Having a hard time falling or staying asleep • Mind going blank • Eating too much or too little • Difficulty controlling worry If you have experienced more than four of these symptoms, you may be experiencing an unhealthy amount of anxi- ety. Yes, there are healthy amounts of anxiety. Healthy anxiety is the feeling that you know you need to get up to go to work or the thing that pushes you to mow your lawn, pay a bill or do laundry. When worry begins to spiral out of control, we are experiencing unhealthy anxiety. The key to treating unhealthy anxiety is learning how to be present in the moment and focusing on what you can and cannot control. Studies show that 80% of what we worry about is out of our control. Sometimes it is beneficial to write down all the worries that keep swirling around in your head and recognize what is in your control that you have a chance at managing, and what is outside of your control that is simply something that worrying will not fix. If you feel that the anxiety is overwhelming or if you feel paralyzed due to worry, counseling may be a good option for you to help navigate out of an anxious-filled life and be able to breathe. (Madeline is our EAP (Employee Assistance Program) Counselor. This is a FREE & confidential counseling service for employees. Call 815-732-3157 to set up an appointment. She is available from 12:30pm - 4:30pm Tuesdays at the Ashton Clinic.) Summer heat is here! Remember that staying well-hydrated is important! Most people should consume at least 8-12 cups of water per day. A good estimate of how much water you should drink is to take your body weight in lbs and cut that in half. That is about how many ounces of water you should be drinking. For example, if you weigh 140 lbs, then you should be drinking about 70 oz of water each day to day to stay adequately hydrated. However, the exact amount can depend on your activity level. If you are working or playing in the heat, sun, or humidity you may need to hydrate even more. Also, people with more muscle than fat may need an even higher fluid intake. One quick way to estimate dehydration is to check the color of your urine. It should be pale to colorless. Try to cut back on alcohol and caffeine which can act as a diuretic and make dehydration worse. Stay well-hydrated by drinking water, juices, and eating lots of fruits and veggies! Summer Tips by Nurse Heidi McGlown, RN
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Lincoln Way Inn A Gem in the Country by Steve Meiners
Did you know we have a five star bed and breakfast just 6 miles away from us? If you are a ‘local’ you probably do, but if you are visiting the area you might drive right by The Lincoln Way Inn and not know it was there. This wonder- ful B & B is located in Franklin Grove, Illinois. The facility is a completely restored 1912 home featuring 5 bedrooms, great indoor and outdoor spaces for enjoying breakfast or just relaxing around the outdoor fireplace. They also have a two story carriage house with heated, indoor parking for guests and a meet- ing room with kitchen on the second level. Recently The Lincoln Way Inn also started hosting weddings and events (up to approximately 125 people).
Lisa & John
What a great addition to our local community! Since the Ashton/Franklin Grove area is not in the middle of a hot tourist attraction you might wonder how the facility came to be. Well, it is a good story! Lisa Marie and John Ayres are the innkeepers. Lisa had worked for about 25 years in the Hospitality Industry before she became affiliated with a group called Tawani Enterprises. This group seeks out and restores historic properties primarily in the Chicago area. Lisa was involved with site location and renovation work. That explains her passion for B & B’s but it does not give you a clue to how she ended up in Franklin Grove, Illinois. Lisa and John were Chicago people but they both shared a goal to get out of the city and closer to nature. They be- came involved with The Nature Conservancy at the Nachusa Grasslands. They came to really like the area here and purchased some acreage just north of Franklin Grove. Initially it was their weekend getaway. Eventually it became their home. Once they relocated Lisa was allowed not only to find a restoration project locally but ‘retired’ to actu- ally run the B & B herself. Lisa and John are partners with Tawani Enterprises on The Lincoln Way Inn. Lisa and John expend an incredible amount of energy in exceeding their customer’s needs. From natural fibers in all beds and bedding to using locally grown provisions in their breakfast offerings, no attention to detail is spared. Lisa
is almost always there! She is an amazing cook (ask her how she uses the honey from her bee hives at the farm). She is also a delightful host and will point you in the right direction to enjoy some of the local dining, state parks or other attractions. John, who still has his day job in the city, works hand in hand with the staff on weekends and events. This is a truly a family affair! Check them out at www.lincolnwayinn.com.
Crest Foods held their annual 40 Year Employee Dinner at the Lincoln Way Inn Bed & Break- fast this May. Lisa and John were able to fit all 22 people who at- tended at one large table in the din- ing area. We enjoyed wandering through the beautiful house and seeing all of the work and details that went into the restoration.
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