Posted on June 5, 2023
Snavely Forest Products, LLC has employed Patrick Dawson for over eight years. He started as a sweeper, cleaning up scrap wood, plastic covering, bands, and lots of dust. When Penn-Mar West still had a day center, he would come back from work so covered in grime that he would need to use the shower before catching his bus home.
This was nothing new to Patrick, who loves manual work. His parents own a horse farm where Patrick helps bail hay, stack and cut wood for the winter, weed whack, lay mulch down, and help repair fences, among other tasks. Needless to say, Snavely fit Patrick’s conditions for success well.
While he still cleans work areas, after a few years of being at Snavely, his responsibilities grew to include stacking and banding wood to get it ready for shipping, as well as inspecting wood and different types of doors for quality. Mark, who works in the doors side of the warehouse, speaks highly of Patrick’s work to make sure doors are in good shape.
Most of Patrick’s day is spent in the main warehouse where he works on the chain to ready the wood for shipping, which includes grabbing cut pieces of wood and stacking them about four feet high and then affixing green plastic bands. He likes his job and works well with his coworkers, even showing newcomers the tricks of the trade.
Additionally, he helps a coworker, Tyler, “rip” boards that are too wide to cut them down to a narrower size. Patrick says, “I like to stay busy and help in the main warehouse and the doors side. I like my coworkers and like going to happy hours with them.”
Kyle, his manager, speaks highly of him, “he’s always helping where we need him and does a great job.” The appreciation is mutual as Patrick says, “I like working here. There’s lots to do. We’ll have a picnic in the summer and go to happy hours after work. I like that.”
Patrick is a hard worker and enjoys the friendships he’s made at Snavely. He started out working about fifteen hours per week three days a week and has since expanded his job to about thirty hours or more per week, working five days a week.
Reflecting on his past work experiences, Patrick is also proud to talk about the work he did at Chick-fil-A when he would cart and move the shipped goods to the back of the restaurant. Some boxes were over fifty pounds and he would haul them up a ladder to put them in a small storage area with ease.
He boasts about his work on his parents’ horse farm and the past work he used to do for a horse farm in Mt. Airy. He wants to get an outside landscaping job sometime in the future, but for now he is content at Snavely. When Patrick isn’t hard at work, he likes to travel with his parents to Jamaica, the Outer Banks, and West Virginia, and enjoys running 5Ks with his brother or his sister.
Patrick has grown in his position at Snavely these last eight years. He loves manual work, either inside or outside, and works well with a small group of guys, focused on the task at hand. He is a highly valued employee at Snavely Forest Products, LLC., and we love seeing him thrive!