Since she was young, Morgan Lain dreamed of working in a bakery, and for the past year and a half, she has been living that dream at Strack & Van Til’s Central Bakery on Coolwood Dr. in Valparaiso. Strack & Van Til has had a relationship with Opportunity Enterprises for many years and has been able to hire Lain and others through that connection.
“It’s really been a great relationship and partnership with them. I’m so thankful that Strack & Van Til can offer people with special needs the opportunity to work and have a sense of self-worth every day,” said Jeff Strack, President of Strack & Van Til.
Throughout her career at Central Bakery, Lain has gained confidence in her abilities. Her skills, hard work, determination, and positive attitude have not gone unnoticed by her co-workers and higher ups. In recognition of these traits, Strack presented Lain with a plaque honoring her and all she has poured into her work.
“She’s our powerhouse. She’s a really hard worker and always stays whenever she needs to or wants to,” said co-worker Genevieve Dominic. “It’s good to see her actually enjoy learning new things and being able to pick up things than what she normally gets to do.”
Lain works to pack food at the bakery to ship products, pack products, and get them ready to go out of the door to customers. She attributes her success at Central Bakery to her enjoyment of the job.
“I like working here,” Lain said.
On March 31, Lain won the JobSource Client of the Year award at the Opportunity Enterprises Celebration of Achievement event. Her job coaches at Opportunity Enterprises have counted it as a joy to see Lain grow in confidence and ability at Central Bakery. While these traits can be learned, Lain also has a quality that cannot be taught: positivity.
“She shows up every day with a smile on her face, she’s a hard worker, and her teammates love her,” Strack said. “Only a special human being can do that, and Morgan is truly special.”
Dominic also praised Lain for continuing to do her work with a fantastic attitude and amazing work ethic.
“No matter what our day is like, it’s always nice when she comes in because it’s like a breath of fresh air,” Dominic said. “We get to kind of forget what we’ve been dealing with, and we really just focus on her positivity and her attitude. It really brings the rest of the team up when she comes in because there’s not a day that she doesn’t come in with a smile on her face. I couldn’t be any more blessed to work with a person like her.”
Strack & Van Til has long strived to develop an atmosphere of positivity and connection and is happy to have a standout employee like Lain bringing just that to work with her every day.
“We have a family culture that we try to develop here with our company going back to my grandfather and Mr. Van Til over 60 years ago,” Strack said. “At the end of the day, it’s all about people, and we want our people to feel special.”
For more information about Strack & Van Til’s workforce, visit https://strackandvantil.com/.
