February 2009 Newsletter
Quadax Wellness Initiative
Quadax proudly launched a corporate wellness program in September 2008. Like other progressive companies in the U.S., we recognize that initiatives like these are an investment in our employees' health. For our clients, that translates to controlled costs and better availability. More than that, it translates to vitality and energy to serve you better, as well as to the quality of our staff, since wellness benefits give Quadax another competitive edge to attract the best employees to interact with our clients!
| Quadax extends special thanks to the City of Middleburg Heights —particularly Mayor Starr, Lieutenant Villwock, and Firefighter Schnell—for training some of our staff in CPR and AED procedures! |
The corporate initiative was introduced by our Human Resources Director, Lynda Cooperrider, receives support from our health insurance provider, and is managed by a small but diverse committee of employees, chaired by EDI Client Support Center Representative Brian Smith. Each committee member in turn "champions" a monthly project for wellness.
For our first project, we completed a month of activity, called "Walktober," promoting walking. Since then, we conducted a weight-maintenance challenge over the holiday season called "Maintain, Don't Gain," and our first "Lunch & Learn" seminar, which educated us about stress management. We also have a regular farmers’ market (see below), promoting healthy eating from ecologically-friendly sources.
Future projects are already in the works: emergency preparedness training, seminars about office ergonomics and stretching, smoking cessation resources, and more. We keep our employees informed about all of these projects through a monthly newsletter and an internal Web site.
To see it all in writing, that's a lot to have achieved in just our first four months! It's a credit to the quality of our staff, who care for each other and our clients!
Farmers' Market Comes to Quadax
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| Farmer Jones owner, John Anselmo, and his associates, Sarah Golembiewski and Roy Anderson, prepare for sales at market day at Quadax. The indoor store is located at 16701 Broadway, Maple Heights, OH. |
If you venture to the Quadax Middleburg Heights building mailroom on a Thursday, there is a good chance you will see the area transformed into a fruit and vegetable market. Twice a month, an indoor market vendor, Farmer Jones, sets up a bountiful spread of produce, which includes a large variety of fresh fruits, vegetables, cheeses, eggs, butter, and pre-packaged snacks. The market day program started in October as a convenience for employees to purchase fresh items at an affordable cost.
Although the sales at Quadax only last a couple hours, plenty of hard work goes into the preparation for the day. John Anselmo, Farmer Jones owner, and his crew usually invest eight or nine hours of time to organize our market. John purchases the food daily to ensure that his selection is of only the freshest of foods. Barb Ballas, EDI Edit and Documentation (EDG) Analyst, expressed, “I love the market because of the freshness and prices of produce, the excellent variety, and friendliness of the people working there.” She went on to joke, “I would love to see shopping carts available!”
Where Farmer Jones shops
During the winter months, he purchases the food daily at the Northern Ohio Food Terminal at 37th and Woodland in Cleveland. He explained that the winter months are especially great times to enjoy grapes tangerines, and oranges. In the summer months, watermelons and stone fruits (fruits with a pit) are very popular. From July until November, John attends farmer’s auctions every evening in Homerville where items are brought in by the Amish community by horse and buggies and flatbeds. John, who is very passionate about his job, said, “Just wait until the summer fruits! Wait until you see the size of the cantaloupes! They’re as big as watermelons!”
History
John Anselmo has been in the produce business since a young child. “I have been doing it for almost 40 years. I love the ambience of the business,” he said. John is the second owner of Farmer Jones. The original owner founded the business in 1950. When it came time to retire, he asked John to work with him for a while so he would be prepared take over the business. John has been the owner for almost six-and-a-half years.
Even though John is passionate about produce, it is human interaction that he enjoys most. “I enjoy talking to the people. I would say I know about 75% of the people’s names who come into my store. There are people who come two, three times a week. They love the place.”
We love Farmer Jones too!