Celebrating Juanita

Last week our office celebrated and honored one of our favorite colleagues, Juanita. She decided to retire, and her last day was Friday. She worked at Union for nearly 20 years, and she definitely made an impact on everyone she worked with. We decided to send her off with a bang and have a fun luncheon in her honor. My office-mates kind of headed up the project, and I tried to throw in a few ideas...but really it was mostly them. The first big thing was this great little box called a "broke and bored" box. It's filled with fun things to do when you find yourself broke or bored at home. They did a great job putting it together!

There were lots of gift cards, a few personal gifts, some Union swag, and things like Rip-it (an energy drink she liked) and things to make sweet tea and lemonade. I thought it was so special, and I'm sure she did too!

We also made her this fun salt canister personalized just for her! Juanita salts EVERYTHING!!! I've always gotten onto her for it, but she's pretty stubborn :) We tied it into a scripture reference about being salt and light among people because Juanita is certainly both of those things around here. The canister contains letters from several coworkers telling her how she's been salt to their lives. The label turned out SO CUTE! I love all the fun things they did with the nutrition facts and description. I know she'll cherish that for a long time.

The luncheon went really well. We gave her a "Mayor of Hammons Hall" sash and a name badge for Signs First, where she always goes to pick up our signs for the campus. She seemed to be having a good time, and I think it meant a lot to her to have all of those people there honoring her career at Union.

Let's virtually toast to Juanita and all of her contributions to Union! *clink*