An ever-changing, ever-improving favorite event of Townsend’s was held recently.

Our Longevity Luncheon.

Townsend takes part of a day each year to spend time specifically focused on Partners that are celebrating a milestone anniversary at Townsend.  Taking time to honor Townsend Partners celebrating 1, 5, 10… even up to 35 year anniversary’s of working at Townsend Leather.  It was a day full of laughs, meaning, fun, prizes, tacos, and hugs!

The event started off with a couple of ‘cool rides’, our lunch was catered by our local crowd-pleasing Moe’s restaurant and there was even a cool Firetruck cooler for raffle.

A basket of happy goodness was also raffled off to help raise money for our Relay For Life Team

Every company luncheon is a busy, fun time, but this one was especially great.  With stories, prizes, and memorable moments.

Partners celebrating 20 years were gifted a Townsend Leather in-house crafted custom ottoman.

The day was filled with heartfelt moments and meaningful times.  There is something magical about celebrating each others longevity.  Taking a moment to reflect on the time that has passed the lessons learned, the growth, the experience, the knowledge gained.  Especially when it is family and people that feel like family.  One of our esteemed honorees was SVP of Customer Service, Tricia Martin, officially on the books for 15 years, shown above being celebrated by her sister, SVP of Sales and Marketing, Sarah Eckler.

With about 150 Partners and guests, it was a full happy house.  Our President, Jared Eckler, hosted the days events by sharing stories and memories, passing out letters, gifts, handshakes and laughs.  Providing a excellent balance of humor and meaning, with a keen perspective of the history of the company and knowledge of each honoree’s personal history.

There were hugs for everyone and special gifts for many.  Our music lovin’ SVP of Finance, Kim Russo, was gifted a special gift by her accounting team for her 10 years at Townsend.  A giant poster signed by her team, to please her eyes all day as she sits and studies the numbers, of the one and only Bruce Springsteen.  She was more than delighted to receive it.

We had almost 50 Partners in total to honor that day celebrating 1, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, and 35 year anniversaries.  Each getting their own special recognition and gifts.

After taking time to honor each of our celebrated anniversaries, we surprised Jared with a couple awards of his own.  SVP of Production, Jeff Martin, presented an award signed by nearly everyone in the company to Jared and spoke of his urgency, willingness, and expertise at “getting sh*t done”.  Jeff spoke from the heart and celebrated Jared’s love of Townsend Partners.

Executive Administrative Assistant, Rebecca Danelorich, then presented Jared with a “Best Captain’s Award” on behalf of our management team.  Rebecca was nervous to speak but blew the room away with her prepared words.  She blended humor and heart speaking to Jared’s leadership abilities and making the sentiments ring true to everyone there.  You can see her holding her long long scroll of speech notes in the picture below, it reached all the way to the floor!

And Jared’s wife and SVP of Sales and Marketing, Sarah Eckler then took the stage to further express Jared’s love of Townsend Partners and his desire to help everyone become the best versions of themselves.  Sarah’s love of Jared and Townsend was visible in her talk and she presented Jared with a plaque of his 40 Under 40 Leadership award.

Surprise!

Many Townsend Partners mentioned this event was their favorite yet, they loved the relaxed feel, the time to honor each other, the funny stories, the food, and just the fact that it happens at all. Many people noticed this is a unique thing for a company to spend time doing and its impact is deep and long lasting.

“I loved seeing everyone’s surprise and excitement over what you were saying about them and the gifts they were receiving.  These luncheons always seem to happen around the perfect times too.  Everyone is super busy this week, but was nice to take the time and step back for the hour and enjoy some inspiring and heartfelt items rather than always being in the grind.”

“Wanted to share with you that I discussed the lunch in with my wife and she stated that it  is great that we do this for the partners and wished her company did such a thing”

“Food was great!”

“The personal messages were very touching, Jared spoke from the heart and beautifully”

“Our guest felt extremely welcomed during this event, and now they event want to apply at Townsend!”

We take pride in our events and take seriously any opportunity to celebrate our awesome team.  This was a fantastic event and we are looking forward to making next year’s even better!