Crest Ink - Volume 28 - Number 01

Twenty Year Club

by Cheri Kemp

A milestone was reached by seven Crest Foods employees at some point during 2015. That milestone was celebrating their 20th year at Crest Foods. Each of these employees received their 20 year ring during the plant-wide catered dinners held on December 16 and 17. This group will join an impressive 164 others who have previously celebrated 20 years with Crest Foods bringing our total to 171! That is a lot of years, collectively, spent in building Crest Foods into the com- pany it is today. It has been said many times that it takes the foundation of our dedicated employees to make us who we are in the industry and these seven employees helped in reaching that pinnacle, or ‘Crest’! Thank you all for your dedica- tion to Crest Foods! Jim Nalley, Warehouse Fork Lift Operator joined us on January 3, 1995 as did Susan Larson, Payroll Manager. Joyce Meiners, Consumer Products Lab Project Manager and Mark McWethy, MIS Director, both followed on May 30, 1995. Mark Johnson, District Sales Manager for the North West Ingredient Division was hired on June 4, 1995; Gay Huber, first shift Production was hired on October 29, 1995 and Dawn Summers, QA Lab Systems Manager joined Crest Foods on November 12, 1995. We asked each of these new inductee’s to share a few thoughts of their 20 years with our readers. Here are their stories: From Gay Huber: “When I started at Crest Foods I worked on the break crew 8:30 AM to 2:30 PM which worked out perfect for me. I was able to put my kids on the bus and be home before them. I did that for two years. The funny thing is when they hired me for this job, they had no idea how long it would last. They said it could be two weeks or two months and look! I’m still here!” Gay Huber From Dawn Summers: “I came to Crest Foods in 1995 with the plan of working for 6 months…now, 240 months lat- er…Here I am! It’s funny how your plans are not always THE plan. I started working on 3rd shift in Sanitation, and that job, (although I am sure it took 3 years off my life), still holds some of my fondest memories and formed some very strong relationships. A funny thing that happened back then was when I was 9 months pregnant with my last child, yes, 9 months. I climbed under a Hayssen machine to clean it, and the baby shifted, and I was STUCK! I had visions of hav- ing to be extricated, but luckily the baby shifted again, and I crawled out. Not long after that, I moved to A shift as the Master Sanitation Coordinator, a job that I loved. So in December of 1999, I was not overly joyful when I was moved to Quality Assurance and was told that would be my new home, that it was a “good fit”. It is amazing the insight of our leadership, as QA is truly my home and my passion. I love the interaction with our customers and my co-workers, and being in a position to practice and portray our Crest Culture. I love the challenges and satisfaction my job brings. It is fast paced and ever changing. I have been blessed to work for such a wonderful company that has given me opportunity to grow and has helped me do so. I love this place, and all of the people it has brought into my life, which includes some of my closest friends. I have enjoyed almost every minute and can’t wait to see what the future has in store. Thank you Crest foods for the last 20 years and here’s to a few more!” Dawn Summers Quality Assurance Lab/Systems Manager From Mark Johnson: “In 1995 I was working for a company that was a customer of Crest Foods (Sinton Dairy). I saw how Crest Foods treated their customers, their employees, and it appeared to be a same values type company. Also work- ing with Crest Foods employees Jim Schultz, Max Ballard, Teri Wolber, and Chris Pfoutz as a customer of my other employer, made the decision easy. At times, I didn’t think I would make it 20 years. Especially with the travel issues we (In Sales and Technical Service) deal with. But here I am 20+ years later. One of the most memorable moments was September 11, 2001 (9/11). I was in Denver that week. With my large territory, it was the closest drive home of all the places I fly to for work. “ (Mark lives in South Dakota as the NW Territory Manager) From Mark McWethy: “Working for twenty years at Crest Foods seems more like one year to me. I remember it like yesterday when I interviewed for the job, back in 1995. The interview consisted of a round table of individuals, includ- ing Jim Schultz, Jan Warner, Shirley Reif, Mary Gehant(Bonnell), Jeff Friday, Gary Guenther and Janet Sutton. Crest

4 Crest Ink January, February & March 2016

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