Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, August 24, 1995 TAG: 9508240059
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: F.J. GALLAGHER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Each year, employees of Salem's Maid Bess Corp. celebrate the cultural diversity that stands behind the "Made in the U.S.A." labels they sew into every garment that passes through the factory.
"It helps create a family atmosphere," Dick Robers, chief operating officer, said of the company's second annual International Day, which was Wednesday.
"It helps us to understand and appreciate what America is really all about - the melting pot. Everybody gets to see and learn about the different backgrounds and have a good time doing it."
The company, which manufactures uniforms for the health industry, employs people from 17 nations. Wednesday, they shared aspects of their native cultures with co-workers.
Employees, if they wished, dressed in traditional clothing and displayed items from their homelands in the company's lunchroom. Maid Bess management also hired a caterer to provide a meal featuring food from the different nations.
Manager Carol Marchiando said the firm's employees come from many nations, including England, Poland, Spain, Vietnam, Iraq, Haiti, Cuba and the former Yugoslavia. International Day, she said, allows everyone to learn firsthand about differences and similarities.
Indeed, as Selena Gray discovered as she talked with employees from the former Yugoslavia, many cultures share an appreciation for coffee, but the preparation and strength of the drink varies from country to country. The natives of Yugoslavia like their coffee stronger than Americans do, Gray learned.
Amarjit Kaur, who has worked with Gray at Maid Bess for seven years, displayed a blanket she made, alongside other items from India brought by other employees, including statues, cards, pictures and a hookah, an Indian water pipe.
Other employees provided more poignant insights.
"Now this building is broken," said Adelada Stmbol, pointing to a picture in a souvenir book from the 1984 Olympics in the former Yugoslavian city of Sarajevo. In fact, most of the buildings the book featured have been damaged or destroyed during the years of brutal civil war.
She said Roanoke is beautiful and reminds her in some ways of her native city. "Sarajevo looks like Roanoke, with all the mountains around it," said Stmbol, who has been in the United States for seven months. "But all our mountains are tall, over 2,000 meters."
by CNB