Some Rich History of Pine Valley Foods and

With just a little imagination, you will see . . . nestled in the nurture of a proverbial ‘piney woods’, beneath the towering ‘Longleaf Loblollies’ of  West Monroe,  LA  . . .  'The Valley of Fundraising'  . . .  Pine  Valley Foods! -- (Typical to the region that stretches all the way from West Monroe southwest and west respectfully to Beaumont, Texas and the Sabine River . . . and then, to Toledo Bend, Shreveport, LA and beyond, on into East Texas . . . are these gorgeous . . . ‘Longleaf Loblolly’ Pines).

Pine Valley Foods, founded in 1998 by Eric Hammons and Joe Giildenzoph, is headquartered in West Monroe, LA. - PVF is the manufacturer of All Star 1 Fund Raising’s great line of incredibly delicious Cookie Dough known as ‘Team Dough’, representing 7 SEC (South Eastern Conference) University, College or School Teams in 5 States (AR, LA, MS, AL and GA) . . . as well as ‘Crazy About Cookies’ Cookie Dough, ‘FFA’ (Future Farmers of America) Cookie Dough, and ‘Crazy About Popcorn’ Kits. - Pine Valley also supplies All Star 1 Fund Raising with Nuts, Candies, Chocolates, Snacks & wonderful Gourmet Caramel Corn.

In 2016, Pine Valley was bought out by Neighbors, LLC. -- Neighbors has retained the same production facilities and staff of Pine Valley in West Monroe, LA . . . and continues to produce for its fundraising business the same high quality cookie dough products . . . and as well, do business as Pine Valley Foods.

In order to provide the infrastructure to support the nationwide demand for their fundraising products, Pine Valley has invested in a ‘state-of-the-art’ cookie dough production facility and warehouse totaling 70,000 square feet, constructed in 2005.

Pine Valley Foods, a national fundraising manufacturer and supplier, has created premier quality products, as well as rendered unrivaled service over the last 18 years, making it a leader in the fundraising industry! As a fundraising company, based in Oklahoma City, OK . . . and co-owned by Dale & Billie Smith for over 31 years, since 1985 . . . All Star 1 Fund Raising is constructively proud and most grateful to be a partner with Neighbors, LLC (dba) Pine Valley Foods in the distribution of their ‘world-class’ products that cannot be topped!

John Jackson, the national marketing director of PVF, a dear friend of All Star 1, has supplied us with a wonderful marketing program that has greatly positioned us to be highly competitive . . . and as well, continue to grow our business by marketing Pine Valley’s great fundraising products.

West Monroe, LA, is quite a renowned piece of geography these days! Not only is it the home of Pine Valley Foods; it also is the home of Duck Dynasty and the famed Robertson Family . . . and last, but certainly not least, West Monroe . . . is the hometown of my dear wife, Billie Smith (Billie Rose Fuller Smith), who was born there on September 17, 1944. It was in West Monroe, while working at Quality Printing Co., on N. 7th St., where I became a Journeyman ITU Printer, that I first met Billie at the home of her cousin, Robert Fuller, in March of 1960, and also subsequently, where Billie and I were the first couple to be joined together in Holy Matrimony in the newly constructed First United Pentecostal Church, located at 702 Montgomery St., 55 years ago on February 3, 1961. - (The successor of the 1st UPC, is The Pentecostals of the Twin Cities, which fronts on I-20 in West Monroe . . . and is pastored by Mark Foster).

How do I know about ‘the piney woods’ of West Monroe? . . . Just before the Christmas of 1960, while Billie and I were dating, before we were married . . . just prior to Christmas, in a new red 1960 Chevy Monza Corvair Coupe, that I had just purchased, that was voted ‘Motor Trend Car of the Year” . . . we took a ride just outside of West Monroe to one of those ‘piney woods’ and cut down a small pine tree for her family’s Christmas Tree. (Edith Simpkins Fuller and Theodis L. Fuller, Billie’s parents,   resided   at   516   Wheelis  St.  in  West  Monroe,  where  Billie
was raised).

In addition to the above, just west of West Monroe, in those same ‘ole ‘piney woods’ near the community of Calhoun, is a cemetery known as Roselawn Memorial Gardens. It is here beneath those same towering pines of the area, in this incredibly serene place of peace, stillness and quietness; that ‘loved ones’ of Billie’s family . . . the Simpkins, Nordans and Fullers, are laid to rest. -- It is also here, in one of the most beautiful places in the whole wide world, that not only Billie’s family . . . but also many others, by the divine power of Christ Jesus of Nazareth, our    Lord  and  Savior,   will   experience    their   eternal   resurrection
and reward.

What more can I say about West Monroe? -- Well, no disrespect intended nor inferred; there’s more to life than fundraising, and there’s more to life than the material and the mundane; for as long as there is life on this earth, there will always be a West Monroe, LA, and more importantly, as long as there is ‘sunset and sunrise’  . . . and there is ‘evening and morning’ . . . for each of us, there will always remain that glorious and heavenly hope of ‘Eternal SON-Life’, and the dawning of that brilliant and bright-shinning ‘Resurrection Morn’ . . . when and where, THE ‘SON’ shall outshine HIS ‘Sun’!!!

And so . . . it is so easy for me to say that the lives of Billie and me will always be inextricably connected to West Monroe, LA, the home office of Neighbors, LLC’s Cookie Dough Operation . . . not only by dear memories, nostalgia and geography . . . but as well, by a wonderful business relationship with . . . and a deep appreciation for the wonderful products and services of Neighbors, LLC (dba) Pine Valley Foods.

A big thanks to John Jackson, for bringing us ‘on board’ at Pine Valley Foods! We indeed are ‘happy campers’!

Also, another big thanks to Eric Hammons and his entire staff for extending to Billie and me, in June of 2014, a most warm hospitality on our first visit to PVF, while on our way to my 55th class reunion at old Natchez High School in Natchez, Mississippi.