Santek's end.

There is sad news to report.
Santek Trailers, the company in Riverside, California, USA, that built the Fuso Szulc, is out of business.


Tomorrow their doors will be closed.
No more expedition vehicles will be build by Santek Trailers.
No trailers either.
After having been in business for 24 years.



The reasons are complex for this debacle.
It is only partly because of an economy going into recession and high fuel prices.

There is a chance though that the former owner might re-start the business.
That would be a courageous but risky thing to do.

The thoughts go of course to Paul Westphal.
He bought Santek Trailers not too long ago and invested everything he had in this company.
Paul lost it all.
His money.
His job.
And faces now huge challenges to create income again for his family.

The 15 employees all lost their jobs too.
They must try to find work elsewhere.
All of them are Mexicans without documents but in the USA for many years and socially integrated with wives at home and kids in school.
They are also facing huge challenges to find work and income again.

And then there is the beautiful Gail.
The secretary of Santek Trailers.
She lost her job on Tuesday.
For her it is also going to be an enormous challenge to find a new job.
She may have to give up her apartment and move in with her married daughter.

On a human level, Santek’s closing down is a small tragedy.
Because of the serious implications and consequences it has for the people who were working there.

Yesterday was spent at Santek.
Again the way the camper box was attached to the chassis was remodelled.
Now it is fixed in the best way ever.
It was the last job Santek Trailers did.

It was all very painful to be at Santek and see the halls empty where it used to be a feast of hard working people making beautiful trailers.


To see the place where Gail used to work now without light and an empty chair.

To see Paul Westphal struggling to try to end the company in the best possible way for customers and employees.

Fortunately, nobody was depressed or desperate.
The Mexican friends had confidence they could find jobs elsewhere.
Nobody was nervous or anxious or in a panic.
All were incredibly relaxed.

Paul, a good Christian, has full trust in the Lord and expects therefore the best in life to come.

A chapter has closed.
The friends of Santek Trailers will be dearly missed.
And they are saluted.
Thank you, Santek, for the wonderful opportunity to work together and share the building process of the Fuso Szulc.
Thank you, Santek, for the friendliness, the warmth, and the concern.
Thank you, Santek, for the excellent service and the loyalty to the customers.

Because of the worry for the well being of all the Santek people in the future, Riverside was left with a rather depressed feeling.

But because life keeps everything in balance, the same day Tiffany Snow was met.


Many fervent and loyal blog readers may ask:
“Who is Tiffany Snow?
With who and what is the blog writer coming up this time?”.
Well, dear blog readers, respectfully, Tiffany Jones is a member of the national field hockey team of the USA.
She has been representing the USA on tournaments for 4 years now.
Playing 69 international caps.
Scoring 20 international goals.

Tiffany is an incredible girl.
She has this super fantastic energy radiating from her.
Tremendously positive and life-capable.
Obviously this connected ideally when meeting the nomadic photographer.
It was one of those conversations to remember for a long time because of the close connection growing in a very short time.

Home Depot sponsors the national field hockey team of the USA.
They hire the players of the USA team for 20 hours a month but pay them enough to be able to train the rest of the time.
Hence, although field hockey is an amateur sport, Tiffany is in fact a semi-professional.
And she goes to China as well for the Olympic Games.

The world champion in field hockey for ladies is the team of the Netherlands.
But proudly Tiffany told that once the USA women had managed to beat the national team of the Netherlands.
But this photographer with Dutch origins has to explain that the main and most important Netherlands ladies that time were not playing.

In the end it is not about a company going out of business or the result of a match.
It is about the people.
And persons like Tiffany and the Santek-people are capable and positive.
They are all winners.
Although sometimes they loose.
But they will win again soon.

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To learn more about American field hockey, click on:

http://www.usfieldhockey.com/teams/women/snow.htm







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