Delco friends score 5G top prize in Giant competition
MARPLE » Giant Food Stores associates Alyssa Massarella of Broomall and Kayla Ricker of Ridley Township walked off stage with the $5,000 grand prize recently after capturing top prize in their company’s talent show. Competing with finalists from other districts in Pennsylvania, the two talented friends who work at the Broomall Giant, 2910 Springfield Road, delivered a powerhouse duet rendition of Frank Sinatra’s “That’s Life.” The talent show was part of the recent annual spring Giant/Martin’s Food Stores business meeting held at the Marriott at Penn Square in Lancaster.
Twelve finalists from across Pennsylvania showcased their talents in front of nearly 1,000 support and store management associates from across Giant/ Martin’s operations who voted for the winners via their smartphones. Select Giant/Martin’s Associates danced, sang, played instruments and showed off their art work, competing for the top spots in this final round.
Cashiers Alyssa Massarella, Cardinal O’Hara High School Class of 2014, and Kayla Ricker, Cardinal O’Hara Class of 2016, have been close friends since they first met in their high school’s theatre program. Both women are now pursuing undergraduate degrees at Cabrini University in Radnor. Massarella is working toward a degree in communications, hoping to work in the recruitment field of higher education some day and Ricker is majoring in psychology, aiming for an eventual career in music therapy.
Before landing a spot among the 12 finalists in the state, the local women entered and won the semi-final talent competition at the district level, scoring a $100 Giant gift card as the prize. They based their winning song of “That’s Life” on the “Smash” TV series interpretation.
“The ‘Smash’ version is way jazzier and livelier than Sinatra’s because it’s a female duet,” explained Ricker. “We wanted to make it fun. Also, we’re both Broadway lovers so we knew this version would be more of a crowd pleaser!”
The friends said that they practiced a few times each week in the vocal room at Cabrini, leading up to the district competition. Last year, before Ricker got the job at Giant, Massarella entered the 2017 contest solo and performed “Defying Gravity” from the Broadway show “Wicked.”
“I made it to the top 12 and took home $1,000 so I was thrilled,” Massarella said. “Our thought process this year was that we’d enter and, if we were lucky, we’d win $1,000 which certainly would have made us both totally happy. Needless to say, we were shocked to take the top prize. We seriously couldn’t have been happier or more excited!”
“We were really surprised,” Ricker added. “We had so much fun!”
The winners said that they stretched the contest into a twoday good time since Giant/ Martin’s Food Stores supplied hotel rooms for them.
“We had a ‘girls’ night’ on the night before the competition,” explained Massarella. “Our friend came up to support us and we did face masks and glammed up for the next day. Our families came and Giant supplied a nice lunch for all of us.”
Massarella and Ricker said that they wore gowns on stage for the talent competition. When they won, Giant handed them an oversized, jumbo novelty check on stage.
Both students, participants in the theatre program at Cabrini, are already onto their next venture, practicing for the musical comedy, “The Adams Family,” which will run April 19-28 at the university. Ricker, who will graduate in 2020, will play Alice and Massarella, who will receive her degree in May, will play the role of Wednesday Adams. Both young women also take voice lessons at Cabrini.
When asked what they did with their five grand windfall, both college students said that they took their winnings straight to the bank.
“As students, we hardly ever have extra money,” Ricker explained, “so this was a nice chance for us both to open up accounts and have a little savings.”
Jonah Rock, a grocery associate at the Waynesboro Martin’s, captured second place and $3,000 by performing an original song about the company’s service culture. Third prize went to Adam Hawbaker, a produce associate at the Mount Joy Giant, who received $2,000 for his outstanding artwork. The other associate finalists each received $1,000.
“Thank you to all of our associates who participated over the past several months in bringing this contest to life,” said Matt Lutcavage, Giant/Martin’s vice president of human resources. “Our associates are the foundation of Giant/Martin’s success. They exhibit their talent in delivering great customer service every day, so it was fantastic to see them showcase their creativity outside of the store.”
Giant Food Stores, LLC, founded in Carlisle, Pa., in 1923, has more than 170 neighborhood stores and offers home delivery, online/mobile ordering, fuel centers, pharmacies, plus in-store nutritionists. Serving customers in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia, Giant Food Stores employs more than 30,000 associates.