Judy Barrett (Scheduling) After buying a new car, all those years ago, I decided I needed a job to make extra money for a car payment. Even though I was not planning to make this a long term career, here it is 30 years later, I am still here! I have seen a lot of changes over the years, some of them good, some not so good. One vivid memory is after my first or second summer working here, is the flood at the warehouse and all over town. All the stacks of product got wet and collapsed, tipping over like dominoes. The one thing that has remained consistent is all the really nice people that work here. Sam Haight (Mix B) I came to Crest Foods needing a job that had stability and wasn’t going to fold and go to who knows where! When I first started work at Crest Foods I will admit it was totally different. Yet it was similar to other factory work. June 25, 1997 was my first day of work (as a temp employee). Then time went on trying to prove myself how worthy I might be to this company. I was hired by Crest on December 15, 1997. The company must have saw how I wanted to become part of this family! 20 years go by faster than you think. The one memory that will always stay with me is oddly the day I was tired of being pushed and proved myself and to others the respect I deservingly needed to receive. The other workers at the time
gave it to me. I went from a mix helper to lead mixer to doing set ups for batches, to batch stager. I also washed drums, baled cardboard when it was needed. I wanted to get to know every job in the mix facility and become flex- ible to the needs of that job. I’ve seen people come and go in the last 20 years and some of these people have passed away leaving their indelible mark on the company as well as people who worked with them. They will always be with us in our hearts and we feel richer just knowing them, the same way I felt about my dad who passed away May 17, 2017. At this time I want to thank the Meiners’ family for believing in me and my ability to help their company grow. I haven’t taken a 10 year trip yet, but I will work on that when the time is right! Thank you very much to everyone who helped me in many ways to become the person I need to be at Crest Foods. Sincerely, Samuel J. Haight P.S. I’m very honored to have joined the 20 year club.
Felicia Messenger (Production B) I started at Crest Foods back in 1989. I came and went a few times, but something kept bringing me back. I made Crest a permanent home on No- vember 24, 1997. I have watched lots of changes happen over the past 20 years including the Mixing Department moving out of the main plant to the West Facility; our no smoking policy being implemented; our West Facility being built. I have also had the pleasure of meeting and working with hundreds of people and working with lots of different products. Overall I have enjoyed my first 20 years and am going to try to do another 20 to see what else happens at Crest! Matt Drew (Mix A) I was attending Sauk Valley Community College and looking for a sum- mer job to get me through until the next fall. I enjoyed the atmosphere and money coming in and 20 years later – here I am! Honestly I did not plan on making this a long term career but it has been a great place to work. From my ten-year trip to the Magic Waters nights, to the Christmas dinners and bonuses, Crest has been beyond generous and working for the Meiners family has been wonderful.
January, February & March 2018 Crest Ink 3
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