Vince Cerni: Work, Family, Faith, Crafts

Vince Cerni, vice president of Cerni Motors, is hanging tough with his family. You can read more about Vince at the company’s website.

What are some ways the COVID-19 outbreak has changed your work life?

We here at Cerni Trivista are “social distancing” as best we can.  We are open for business, however, we are currently not letting anyone other than people that work for us inside our facilities.  All those who can work from home are, which is about 15 percent of our staff, and we’re maintaining and building relationships by finding ways to support our clients in today’s economy.  We have done our best to maintain our current staff regardless of the economic toll on the company to ensure our work family is supported through these times. 

We have added several cleaning crews to our weekly dealership cleaning that provide disinfectant and virus killing products.  We have done this to ensure our work places are safe and clean and also to provide peace of mind for all those who come to the office every day. 

It’s sad to say that we can no longer have our teams eating lunch in our lunch room, and the transient drivers can not enjoy our drivers lounge while waiting for their vehicles to get fixed, but we have made several arrangements with local hotels to allow people to stay in rooms while repairs are being made. 

How about your personal life?

Most of us don’t get to spend as much time with our families as we would like because of work schedules, but this has been a bright spot for most who are working from home.  It’s been a great opportunity to spend time and love our families even more during these “stay at home” times. 

In the Cerni family, we have been utilizing technology to see our grandparents, brothers, sisters, aunts and uncles, and are probably spending more time with them than we would have without the COVID impact.  It’s actually been very nice to improve our relationships even from a distance.  We have also been using these same platforms to gather with our friends to continue our “date nights”. 

This has unfortunately created a lot of additional laundry for those that do still go into the office.  The laundry room is in high demand with all work clothes going directly into the wash machine before entering the house.  Most are also taking precautions like this in addition to an immediate shower prior to touching and hugging our family hello from the long workday.  This really makes me appreciate the welcome home hugs and kisses that much more considering I have to wait for them. 

What steps are you taking to hang tough?

Crafts, crafts and crafts.  The schools send projects home for the children, but we are finding additional crafts that we can do with the family.  In the Cerni family, we decided to grow plants from seeds like giant sunflowers, daisies, cucumbers, cantaloupe and many more.   These are fun as they take a few minutes every day to investigate, water and prune.  It’s also fun for the kids to see the growing process which leads to all kinds of conversations about the importance of nurturing, patients, provided what’s needed to continue positive growth and keeping our world clean.

My daughter Eliana, who is 5, has just learned to ride her bike without training wheels. This is a great activity for our entire family as well.  After dinner, weather permitting, we have been taking nightly bike rides through our neighborhood.  Ellie rides her bike, Maria on her 10-speed and Isabelle in a carrier on the back of my bike, we whip through the neighborhood with the soundtrack to trolls blaring from by jam box.  I know that most families in my neighborhood are also excited to get outside and several of the children who were riding with trainers last year have now graduated to no training wheels. 

What advice are you sharing with the people you love? 

Same as everyone else, keep your distance, wash your hands, do not touch your face, and wash your hands again.

For those who have been affected by this virus or it has inhibited your ability to visit your loved ones, have faith in God’s plans.  The connection with your faith and your family are more important than ever.  These are the days that prove material things are the least important and our relationships with God and family will carry us through.