Three lucky employees win vehicles from Shearer's Foods

MASSILLON ‒ Three employees of Shearer's Foods will get to choose a new truck or SUV after winning a raffle at the company's end-of-summer celebration Saturday at its plant on Millennium Boulevard.

The vehicle giveaway was part of an incentive program the company made to recognize their Ohio employees for working well during their busy summer season.

"Thank you, everyone, so much for your ... performance this past summer, said Eric Krizay, vice president of operations. "We turned in a record year for the Shearer's company."

Shearer’s , a manufacturer of salty snacks, cookies and crackers, provided incentives to employees in Massillon and Brewster. It offered prizes to those with weekly perfect attendance or those who volunteered to work extra shifts.  Employees were given raffle tickets with prizes that grew larger throughout the summer. The prizes included iPads, grills, coolers and barbeque sets.

The company held its first fall festival last year, said Lauren Lab, human resources manager of the Brewster plant.

"This year, we thought, 'Let's give them a truck,'" she said. The event included food and bounce houses.

Her husband Michael Lab, site leader at the company's Stark warehouse, said about 1,000 employees were invited to the celebration.

"We're giving away a car today. That's really fun. It's exciting," he said.

More: 'There's no reason to leave.' Shearer's Foods CEO says company is committed to Massillon

Saturday's final raffle included additional prizes after the drawing for the new vehicles, which winners will get to choose at Progressive Chevrolet.

"We pay for everything - tax, title," said Carlos Smith, human resource manager.

Winners did not need to be present to claim their prizes. None were in attendance when managers pulled the winning tickets shortly before 4 p.m.

Spectators who held cellphones at the ready to photograph the winners' reactions left without capturing those once-in-a-lifetime moments.

"That was a little bit anticlimactic, Krizay said.

More: Massillon-based Shearer's Foods gets state tax credit as it eyes new facility near Dayton

Reach Nancy at 330-580-8382 or nancy.molnar@cantonrep.com. On X, formerly known as Twitter: @nmolnarTR.

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Three lucky employees win vehicles from Shearer's Foods