12-30-2024 4:37am

Tree Decorating Activity Features Creativity of Employees of Drug Plastics & Glass Co.

Lesley Misko Editor

by Jane Stahl

Kelly Dierolf, executive assistant with Boyertown’s Drug Plastics and Glass Company (DP&G), felt it was time for a change in the company’s annual celebratory gathering for the holiday season from Pollyanna gifting that had lost excitement to an opportunity for creativity, fun, and team-building.

And so, each of the 11 departments within the company was presented with a four-foot Christmas tree, a string of lights, and the challenge to decorate it using the company’s products.

Participants were encouraged to fill each tree with at least 16-20 festively decorated bottles with closures. They had plenty of choices and were free to take the bottles and closures home to decorate before the party.

The event was to spark creativity and provide an opportunity for building greater team spirit within the company. In addition, after the event, the trees were to be donated to local retirement homes in hopes of spreading holiday joy.

Photographs by Suzanne Kohler Biesecker and Lissa Biesecker Longacre. Apologies to any participants whose creations are unintentionally missed from the following collection.

“What each of the departments came up with is really pretty amazing,” notes Suzanne Biesecker, co-founder and Chairwoman of DP&G who decorated the company’s first tree with ornaments she fashioned from vials from the company employing them at the time because purchasing ornaments was not in the company’s early budget.

Following the recent office celebration and “reveal,” each tree was then distributed within the Boyertown community as part of company’s community outreach.

In the window of Studio B Fine Art Gallery is the Information Technology Department’s tree decorated with colorful blinking “bottle lights,” ornaments made from bottles, and affirmations sharing the joy and positive spirit of the season.

Left to right: Lissa Biesecker Longacre and Ava Longacre deliver Studio B's tree in holiday spirit.

Messages include “You’re off to great places. Today is your day. Your mountain is waiting. So get on your way”—Dr. Seuss “Virtually nothing is impossible in this world if you just put your mind to it and maintain a positive attitude.”—Lou Holtz “If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door.” --Milton Berle. “A truly happy person is one who can enjoy the journey while on a detour.” --Anonymous

Rudolph Reindeer was probably the inspiration for the IT's tree.

“Giving back--Involvement in our community--is important to our employees,” explains Lissa Biesecker Longacre, President. “We had such a great time volunteering at Building a Better Boyertown’s Oktoberfest the past few years and realized the importance of letting the community know more about what we do. Our Christmas trees are a small contribution to that effort.”

Drug Plastics & Glass
Founding
Drug Plastics & Glass was begun in 1963 in the basement of the home of Fred N. Biesecker and his wife Suzanne Kohler Biesecker as a sole proprietorship selling plastic prescription bottles and glass containers to drug stores.

Through hard work, determination, and dedication to customers, the company grew to become a worldwide corporation with over 800 employees in eight locations across the U.S. serving pharmaceutical, nutraceutical, and lifestyle industries around the globe.

Today
Proud to be a woman-owned business featuring a caring, responsive, customer-focused culture, the company retains its made-in-the-USA family-owned status, providing jobs supporting local families helping to build strong communities, a dedication to meeting the packaging needs and challenges of its healthcare clients, and taking pride in having earned the EcoVadis Bronze Medal Qualification for its dedication to the Environment through climate science, Labor & Human Rights, Ethics, and Sustainable Procurement.

From left: President Lissa Biesecker Longacre, Chairwoman Suzanne Kohler Biesecker, CEO Rick Biesecker

Find more information on their website: info@DrugPlastics.com. Location and contact info: 1 Bottle Drive, P.O. Box 608, Boyertown, PA 19512; 610-367-5000, (information taken from www.drugplastics.com)