TVS partnership facilitates Laila Ali spice donation to local food pantries

Sep 12, 2023 | News

TVS HR representatives stand beside the organized school supply donations.

Laila Ali Lifestyle spices are freshly stocked at local pantries thanks to a partnership between Transylvania Vocational Services (TVS) and Laila Ali. The spices were distributed to the Transylvania County Sharing House and the Asheville Manna Food Bank last week.

“TVS pursues partnerships with brands that want to build relationships,” said TVS Director of Business Development Nan Higgins. “We love watching our partners not only support our mission of employing adults with disabilities but by also collaborating and supporting others in our community.”

A total of 2,592 canisters were donated to the Transylvania County Sharing House and the Asheville Manna Food Bank. Each pantry received 54 boxes containing a mixture of Spicy Pepper, Sassy, and Soulful spice seasonings.

“I have been dedicated to supporting food banks for more than a decade due to my concern for the numerous Americans suffering from hunger. It is a privilege for me to contribute to this cause by donating my Spice Blends to local food banks,” said Laila Ali Lifestyle owner and founder Laila Ali. “By donating these spice blends, I hope to enable families in need to create nutritious meals at home.”

Ali also donated spices to other food pantries located near her home in Georgia.

“We rarely have spices to offer our neighbors. We strive to make it look like a grocery store with options to choose from— items they need and desire,” said Transylvania County Sharing House Executive Director Rev Shelly Webb. “We also love the opportunity to collaborate and prop up each other’s impactful work as organizations seeking to do good work.”

Helping facilitate and deliver the donation, TVS was happy to see the relationship turn into community support.

“TVS’ commitment to supporting their community resonates deeply with me and I am proud to be a part,” reflects Ali. “It was one of the reasons I decided to partner with TVS as well as their prioritization of quality manufacturing practices. Moreover, they actively promote inclusivity by offering employment and support to individuals with disabilities.”

Laila Ali Lifestyle Spices are organic, gluten-free, sugar-free, and non-GMO. To learn more about her brand and products visit: https://lailaali.com/

Read it here in the Transylvania Times.

Alicia O’Shields Celebrates a Decade at TVS

Mar 10, 2023 | News

“Alicia is the happiest when she is able to get stuff done,” said friend and coworker Cathy Miller. “If she wants it, she goes and gets it.” From driving a forklift truck or pallet jack, to organizing ingredient set-ups, Alicia O’Shields is a jack-of-all-trades and does a little bit of everything at TVS. “Over the past 10-years, set-ups are my personal favorite job to do,” says Alicia. “It is hard work, but I really enjoy the fact that I am taking a large part in producing important food and who it is being sent to.”

Over the past decade, Alicia has been a vital asset working in the set-up area. During this time, TVS has blended metric tons of pancake mix and bakery mixes for U.S. Troop Support along with SuperCereal Plus, a cereal specially formulated for children, aged 6 to 24-months, facing food insecurities around the world. Each of these products must have each ingredient weighed out and organized into individual ‘set-ups,’ before being blended, packaged, and shipped to those in need.

“Alicia is an inspiring and steady presence at TVS. She is dedicated to our mission and our co-workers,” says TVS CEO Jamie Brandenburg. “Alicia is one of the many bright spots I have coming to work. No matter the challenge or obstacle in front of her, she seemingly always finds a way to overcome.”

Alicia first started at TVS in 2007 with the North Carolina Vocational Rehabilitation (NCDVR) working on the production floor. After a short employment, Alicia left TVS for employment at Julie’s Sub, now known as Creekside. A few years later, she returned to TVS in 2013 and started working in set-ups.

“Due to health, I now work wherever I am needed,” explains Alicia. Moving around and helping different departments, is one of her goals at TVS. Alicia also expressed her interest to be a machine operator, “it is one of the few jobs here I have not been trained on.”

Ask anyone at TVS how they would describe Alicia and you will hear; quiet and funny. But the number one thing said by everyone is, hardworking. “She is a hard worker, sometimes working too hard,” chuckled Chase Potts.

“Chase calls me his litter sister even though I am older than him,” laughs Alicia. “I really enjoy working with everyone here. Chase, Steven Morris, and Kolby Laughter, are some of the individuals that come to mind first.”

Reflecting on the last decade, Alicia laughs thinking about her supervisor, Ernest Williams, in a tutu at a dunking booth during a company picnic. “I also really miss working with the participants in INTERACT,” Alicia shared. “And I miss the TVS Thanksmas potlucks, I would always make a pineapple casserole.”

“She makes a mean pineapple casserole,” said Cathy with a smile. “Alicia is really good about being there when you need somebody. When I was out sick and in the hospital, she offered to cut my grass and help me out.” Cathy is not alone; Alicia spends her free time helping others by taking care of yard work, mowing lawns, and doing anything that needs to be done.

Just a couple years ago, Alicia and her wife AJ purchased a home. They share it with their son, Brandon, a puppy named Baxter, and two cats. When not cooking or hanging out in their new house, Alicia and her family enjoy camping at Coal Creek and Cantrell Bridge.

“I have grown a lot over the past 10-years, especially in working with my social anxiety,” reflects Alicia. Her wise words over the years at TVS are, “work hard and strive to learn as much as you can.”

Image above: (left to right) Alicia, Aj, and Brandon

Cory Thomas celebrates 10 years at TVS

Aug 8, 2022 | News

With over a decade of experience at TVS, Cory Thomas can be found working in almost any production area. Cory is able to flow between all the different lines and provide additional support wherever it is needed.

“Cory has been a regular fixture here at TVS! Over the years, Cory has performed a variety of jobs at TVS and takes his work seriously,” said TVS CEO Jamie Brandenburg. “I have always appreciated his loyalty and dedication to our mission and company.”

Cory was originally hired on second shift, palletizing and case sealing on lines producing SuperCereal, Instant Non-Fat Dry Milk (INDM), and Bakery Mixes.

Now, Cory prefers to work in Supplements. “My favorite spot is on the supplement line, I enjoy the flow of the work and the atmosphere,” said Cory. “I enjoy having the chance to talk to my coworkers.”

In Supplements, Cory can be found blowing out canisters, palletizing, or any other job they need him to do. “Cory is a hard worker with good work ethic,” said Supplement Production Lead Richie Atwell. “He does his work with a smile.”

Cory works by the motto, “drive to go home or don’t steer.” Or in other words, care about what you do.

“I enjoy watching Cory grow and appreciate his willingness to work in new departments,” said Dietary Supplements Operation Manager Brian Wilson. “I am very proud of his recent progress in his personal life.”

Cory is native to Transylvania County, and has been involved with TVS for 12 years. Before graduating from Brevard High in 2011, Cory completed his high school requirements by finding employment through Vocational Rehabilitation at TVS.

Over the past 10 years Cory said, “I am able to do more jobs and spread my wings more. I have become more well-rounded and have started to try more.”

When Cory is not at work he can be found practicing Taekwondo, working towards his black belt. Cory is also trained in Kick Boxing and Muay Thai. He has already competed in two different tournaments and aims to keep getting better and better.

Cory also enjoys hanging out with friends, swimming, hiking, social events, and being online. If you are ever looking for Cory on a social media network, it would help you to know that Steven King is his favorite author, as well as, the name of the hotel owner in The Shining.

He can be found in tropical locations on vacation. While his favorite location was Jamaica, he also enjoyed visiting the Bahama’s, Cayman Islands, and Myrtle Beach.

Looking back over the years, Cory remembers all the company picnics, riding inflatable animals in the field out back, evenings together celebrating Christmas, and has lots of memories with good people – some of which are no longer here.

Cory looks forward to continue growing at TVS and moving into whatever position his credentials will take him.

When asked to share some stories about Cory, Brian smiled and said, “I have some great stories involving Cory. They just cannot be repeated here.”

A Letter of Appreciation

Nov 17, 2021 | News

A nice surprise popped into the TVS email last week, a letter of appreciation from Allison Snyder. Allison is an Inclusion Education Major at Western Carolina University (WCU) who graduated from Rosman High School in 2019.

The letter is a nice reminder that our mission is visible in the community and how important our work is. Thank you to all TVS employees working to support our mission, and thank you to Allison for your kind words.

Click here to read the Letter of Appreciation.

Letter to business-from Allison Snyder_Page_1

Letter to business-from Allison Snyder_Page_2

TVS expands commercial and government production capabilities

Aug 25, 2021 | News

In an effort to continue meeting demands for both commercial and government contracts, TVS has invested in expansions to help speed up production and efficiencies. Over the past month, TVS has installed a brand-new line to help fulfill the growing demand in commercial supplements business, along with adding new robotic arms to government contract lines packaging with Instant Nonfat Dry Milk (INDM) and SuperCereal Plus.

Commercial contracts –

To better accommodate the growing relationships within TVS’ commercial business, TVS installed a new supplements line that was up and running in mid-June. The line was a necessary addition to differentiate between commercial and government business.

“The new supplement line increased capacity and production by more than double,” said TVS Sales and Marketing Manager Nan Higgins. “The employees on the line appreciate having the innovative equipment and the new responsibilities associated with these upgrades and take great pride in the additional numbers produced at the end of each shift.”

Higgins explains that the new line works from beginning to palatizing. “The supplement canisters are placed on table that feeds the bottle onto the converter belt,” she said. “The bottles are rotated and blown out with ionized air, filled to bottle count with capsules, topped with cotton, lids added, labeled, and heat sealed before being hand inspected, packaged, placed into cartons, and palletized.”

TVS will continue to update and expand its commercial division to continue meeting the demands of current business and allow space for new customers.

Government contracts –

Over the past 1.5 years, TVS has experienced a significant growth of INDM business to help combat the rising food insecurities across America and SuperCereal Plus to assist children facing hunger worldwide.

The new robotic arms are the newest addition to the new XYRJ machines that were installed late 2020 and early 2021. The robot arms move filled bags of Instant Non-Fat Dry Milk (INDM) and SuperCereal Plus into boxes before being sealing and robotically moving and stacking onto pallets.

Prior to this addition, the boxes were packaged and sealed by hand before being stacked onto pallets.

The new robotic equipment has increased milk packaging by 2.5 times when compared to production a year ago. “We needed additional packaging capacity to keep up with a growth in demand while trying to stay within an existing building footprint,” said TVS VP of Operations Steve Green. “This capacity increase has meaningful impact in that the additional output alone provide close to a million incremental gallons of fluid milk per month, when reconstituted, for needy Americans seeking nutrition from food pantries.”

Another benefit of the robotic arms is the relief of intense labor. With production packaging large numbers of cases of INDM a day, the new arms allow employees to continue work, in less labor demanding positions. Part of the expansion was in an effort to continue providing jobs for individuals with disabilities and other barriers to employment in a less strenuous work environment while increasing TVS’s overall health and safety.

TVS has also purchased another XYRJ Triangle Machine. The factor test will be in December 2021 with installation expected to be in the first quarter of 2022.

“The growth we have experienced in the last year can only be compared to when TVS first commissioned milk in 2000,” said Green. “We could not have made accommodations to meet these demands without the broad support system of the TVS Board of Directors and our senior executives.”

Click Here

Read more about TVS’ new XYRJ machines from ProFood World Magazine!