The Scoop...June 24, 2013

President Jim Osmon called his last meeting to order at 12:09pm and brought up Rita Brown to give the invocation and the Pledge of Allegiance.  Jim Chiles had his entire table come to the front of the room and lead the club in Auld Lang Syne for Jim Osmon.  Sgt. At Arms Harold Bischoff welcomed three guests to the meeting, and then Cindy Wood started a round of Happy Dollars during which quite a few members proudly recognized their anniversaries.  Micki Vollmer drew a round of applause when she announced that the Rex Perry Memorial Golf Outing raised more than $43,000 this year and she thanked all the volunteers and sponsors.  Dr. Thompson continued the good news when he presented a check for $11,324 to Rotary from the last blood clinic, which was attended by 621 people. 

In 1991, Baumgartner Trucking was a small local cartage company, primarily serving P&G when Greg Wannemacher acquired it and renamed the operation Wannemacher Truck Lines.  Tremendous growth has occurred over the past two decades, turning Wannemacher Enterprises into one of Allen County’s true success stories.  Greg Wannemacher told Rotarians that he immediately made customer service the core value of his company and promptly began expanding by trucking all over Ohio.  In 1997, he built a 100,000 square foot warehouse and corporate headquarters on Hanthorn Road, which has since expanded three times.  He has also acquired the Liberty Complex, and warehouses in the Central Point Business Park and on Harding Highway, as well as Golden Heritage Foods in Van Wert, bringing his total warehouse space to more than 1.2 million square feet, with a fleet of more than 60 trucks and 165 trailers and a staff of 140.  Greg credits his employees for much of the company’s success, “Lima has provided us a strong labor force and a work ethic that far surpasses what you get in major cities.”   But Wannemacher Enterprises does so much more than trucking. It picks, palletizes, labels, spray dries and liquid fills.  In fact, the Van Wert location bottled 22 million pounds of honey last year in addition to molasses, hot syrup, agave syrup and barbecue sauce.   Greg’s philosophy is to treat people the way you want to be treated, and he does that with both customers and employees, with the result being a successful business and ambitious plans for the future.

Before adjouring, Mike Schoenhofer presented a plaque to Jim Osmon, thanking him for his year of service as President of the Lima Rotary Club and pinning him with his past president’s badge.  The meeting adjourned at 1:03.