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On Wednesday, March 4, 2009, Soon E got back from work around her usual time of 5:00. I was just finishing my weight training and needed to put the last two bolts into the seat of my weight bench. It turned out to be much more complicated that I had thought. Around 5:25, I heard Soon E call. She wanted me to do something.
When I got upstairs, about five minutes later, Soon E was trying to get the TV sound going without any success. She said, "I'm on TV". I interpreted that to mean that she wanted to watch something on TV. I noticed that she had turned to WBZ-TV, channel 4. Then she said, "TV people came today. They interviewed us and said it would be on at 5:30 or 6:00". I realized that she actually meant that she was going to be on TV. I quickly switched to channel 804, the WBZ high definition channel, and started the DVR. By 5:50, the story still hadn't run. Soon E quickly called Teresa, a fellow worker at Southwick who is like Soon E's sister, and who is still at the old building, to tell her to turn to channel 4. Soon E, "Ugly woman is on TV."
Then she called Pizza Kim at her store. Pizza Kim was out but Soon E talked to her husband, John. She told him to turn to channel 4. Soon E., "Beautiful woman is coming on soon."
As the 6:00 news came on, there was a tease for the Southwick story and there was Soon E in her colorful pink shirt. WBZ-TV is the Boston affiliate of CBS and has about 105,000 viewers for the 6:00 news.
As we waited for the story, Soon E called Insook to tell her to watch. Insook was at Urah's and she quickly turned to channel 4 and started Urah's DVR.
At about 6:06, they rolled the video. It ran a minute and 55 seconds and packed in a lot of information. There were several shots of Soon E, the major one of her saying with great enthusiasm, "I LOVE my job." The reporter interviewed a new Spanish supervisor who Soon E is training and then the head Southwick, Andre D'Elia. Andre did a magnificent job of explaining the inspirational story of how Southwick, last year, was saved from certain shutdown and transfer to Thailand year and the belief that it is still possible to produce products "made in America".
We played back the story several times as Soon E called Teresa, Insook, and John again. She got a call from Dr. Lee who said she had seen the story while watching the news.
I logged onto the WBZ website and found the video. I later sent the link to friends and relatives all over the place.
Later, I sent the following e-mail to Andre:
Dear Andre,
It was exciting to get a brief look at the new Southwick facilities on the WBZ 6:00 news. My wife, Soon E, had told me about the new building but I wasn't prepared for how beautiful and modern it would look. You did a wonderful job in just a few sentences of presenting this inspirational story to a wider audience.
When I read the Eagle-Tribune article last fall about how Mr. Del Vecchio rescued Southwick and kept it here in Massachusetts it reminded me of what Aaron Feuerstein of Malden Mills did when he saved the jobs of so many people in this area after the horrific fire in 1995. The quote from Brian Baumann really said it all, “We owe this move to Haverhill to Claudio Del Vecchio’s firm belief that there is value to ‘made in America’. We could have placed the Southwick operation in one of the Southeast Asia plants overnight and saved a lot of money. We took a big financial risk to do the right thing.” This certainly puts Mr. Del Vecchio into the pantheon of courageous business leaders.
I have sent both the newspaper article and a link to the WBZ video to friends and family in Massachusetts, North Carolina, Florida, California, and Canada and have received many replies expressing joy to see such an uplifting story in these terrible economic times.
Link to video.
Soon E has been with Southwick for more than 11 years and when she said on the video, “I LOVE my job!” it was something I had heard her say many times. Southwick has been like a family for her. And Mr. Del Vecchio’s gift of panettone at Christmas reinforced that feeling of family in a way that a check never could have.
I have met quite a few of Soon E’s fellow workers at Southwick and they are a delight to know. Teresa Sergi welcomed Soon E from the beginning and they are like sisters now. Joe Campana came to our house twice to help us install a kitchen sink and, despite our protestations, would only accept a small token payment. In spite of all the pressure they are under I've always felt that the employees at Southwick are treated with respect and that is of primary importance to me as the husband of someone who works there.
Southwick may be the only company in the area where Soon E would be able to practice the skills she has devoted her whole life to learning. Her sparse education and struggle with English might otherwise leave her with some mindless job. But at Southwick she can truly stretch her potential and enjoy going to work.
Please express my gratitude to all those who have helped keep Southwick in this area.
I look forward to meeting you.
Ed
P.S. Though I don’t speak or understand much Italian, I've always thought it was the most beautiful language in the world and I've studied it for many years mainly so that I could read I Promessi Sposi in Italian, a project I started before I met Soon E. It’s amazing that one of the principle projects of my life revolves around un filatore e una filatrice di seta which is not that far removed from Soon E’s chosen profession. Now halfway through the book, it has become my favorite book of all time. And I'm so happy that Soon E has been able to learn firsthand about the warmth of the Italian culture.
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