Pictured Above: George Schneider and Family
It is our pleasure to introduce George Schneider a member of our team and share some of his unique and interesting story. George has been with Vantage Plastics for 12 years and started as a machine operator forming products for customers. George was recently promoted to the D-Shift Team Lead. In this position, he troubleshoots any production issues that may occur and manages a team of about fifty people including production operators, material handlers, and others. George says: “I am motivated by challenges and I like working with people.” In regards to Vantage Plastics, he says: “I really like the family atmosphere and the comradery within our team. The benefit plans are great as well.” George also says a lot of people are surprised by his sense of humor especially in his leadership role but people seem to really like that about him.
When we get to George’s personal life story it becomes pretty interesting. When he was around thirteen years old George’s brother introduced him to the electric guitar. George picked up playing rapidly as he can play by ear but also learned to read music. Shortly after learning to play guitar, he joined a rock band while in High School. After doing a few gigs and graduating they decided they were going to “make it big” developed some original songs and took a road trip out west through a few states like Arizona, and Arkansas to seek fame and fortune by playing some gigs. George could probably share a lot of stories about this experience referring to the fictional band called “Spinal Tap” as a reference. One story he did share was about a time he and the band had stopped at a Walmart to grab some food. Someone saw George standing outside of their van while some of the others went inside. Somehow, they got the impression that he was holding his buddies for ransom and had sent some inside to call for money so they could be released. The police were even called and confronted George asking him where he had the gun. As it was all just a misunderstanding it all got sorted out. While George has given up the band life, he says some of the members are still together and performing mostly in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
Now on to the story of George, his wife Ivy, and sons Clarence and Aaron Oliveros. George says he met Ivy after she sent him an online message through Facebook saying: “Hi I’m Ivy and you have an interesting Profile.” She had seen a picture of him playing guitar. While he still doesn’t know exactly how she found him, he was making plans a couple of weeks after they began messaging to travel to the Philippines to meet her. The arrangements took about six months but the next thing he knew was on his way to the Philippines to meet her face-to-face. After spending a week and a half together in Manilla they had decided they wanted to continue the relationship and pursue getting married. At the time Ivy was widowed and working in Hong Kong as an accountant while her two sons were living with grandparents in the Philippines. She had returned to the Philippines to meet George and see her two sons. After George returned to Vantage Plastics, he asked Ivy to move back to the Philippines so she could be with her kids and offered to help fund the move. He also began saving money to move Ivy and her children to The United States. This process took about two years as it required jumping through several legal hoops and was expensive. This goal was finally achieved and George and Ivy got married on October, 11th, 2019. Ivy now works as a para-pro at a local elementary school where she is loved. Given her accounting background, she also has a promising opportunity in management at a local bank. As for the kids, Clarence is in tenth grade and would like to become an attorney and Aaron is in eight-grade with the goal of becoming an engineer.
In George’s free time, he loves to hunt, fish and still breaks out the guitar from time to time. He also gets involved in gardening since Ivy loves to grow a variety of fresh items to use in her cooking. George says they love to cook and grill out together and says he has learned to love the recipes from the Philippines that Ivy has introduced him to and loves to prepare. As a member of the Vantage Plastics Team George Schneider has certainly been helping fulfill the Vantage Plastics’ Mission of Forming Better Lives, Forming Solutions, and Forming Sustainable Futures.
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