Rhonda Trembaly is the friendly cashier who works throughout the week at First Harvest, the vegan café in the Campus Center. Although she is a veteran of foodservice work, she has only been working at Wesleyan for about seven weeks. Rhonda loves her job and is thankful to come to work in this environment everyday.
Rhonda, a mother of four boys, ages 10, 14, 15 and 16, recently gave up volunteer work to start working full time at Wesleyan. She expressed how lucky she feels in being able to join the union. She applied for membership last October and as is often the case, jobs were first given to union workers. Luckily, two jobs were still available and Rhonda was offered the position as cashier in First Harvest.
“Rhonda is extremely good spirited and first and foremost a team player,” said Stephanie Zinowski, chef and manager of First Harvest.
The Wesleyan community is lucky that Rhonda decided to join the team at First Harvest.
Last year Rhonda was voted Volunteer of the Year for Pop Warner, a national youth program for football. Rhonda had been volunteering for Pop Warner since her sons first become involved in football. She started out as a parents’ auxiliary support coordinator. Rhonda heard about Pop Warner from a friend and thought it would be the perfect outlet for her house full of boys. She wanted to stay involved with her sons, and loves volunteering, so she immediately started helping out.
She worked at the concession stand for 10 years, which is where she got most of her foodservice experience. Rhonda enjoyed being able to lend a hand to the program. Getting her sons started with football seems to have been the right move, because her oldest son recently won a state championship with New Britain’s high school. He also participated on their state championship weightlifting team.
Rhonda decided to move to New Britain for this school year because of the high quality level of their football team. Her decision to make this move for her sons has proven valuable, as her oldest son plans on playing in college, and she believes there is a good chance he can get a full scholarship to the University of Connecticut.
“I just love the environment,” Rhonda said about Wesleyan. “The kids are intelligent and they have class. I have developed some close relationships with the repeat customers, and I always try to interact with everyone.”
Rhonda spoke of the value she places on asking the students how they are. She understands that they are away from home and even a small amount of support means so much.
Rhonda clearly loves working with people and her years of experience working with kids are evident in the skill and patience she has with Wesleyan students.
“I’ve never had any negative experiences,” Rhonda said, “I couldn’t be happier, getting the job here is the biggest blessing I’ve ever had.”
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