COMMUNITY SERVICES REPORT

-May 2013-

Bloomington-Normal Trades & Labor Assembly, AFL-CIO
United Way of McLean County

Saturday, May 11 marks the 21st anniversary of one of America’s great day of giving – the National Association of Letter Carriers Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive.  Each year on the second Saturday in May, letter carriers across the country collect from their customers non-perishable food donations.  These donations go directly to local food pantries to provide food to people in need, and there are many, right here in McLean County who need our help.

Last year, over 70 million pounds of food was collected nationwide, feeding an estimated 30 million people.  Over the course of its 20-year history the food drive has collected more than a billion pounds of food.  The need for food donations is great.  Currently, over 50 million Americans – 1 in 6 are unsure where their next meal is coming from.  Children in these households feel hunger’s impact on their overall health and ability to perform in school.  And nearly 3 million seniors over age 65 must deal with hunger as well, with many who live on fixed incomes often too embarrassed to ask for help.

The food drive’s timing is pivotal as well.  Food banks and pantries often receive the majority of their donations during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday seasons.  By springtime, many pantries are depleted, entering summer low on supplies at a time when many school breakfast and lunch programs are not available.  Best of all, the food collected will go directly to food pantries right here in our community.

Participating in this year’s food drive is simple.  Just leave a non-perishable food donation in a bag by your mailbox on Saturday, May 11 and your letter carrier will pick it up.  In Bloomington-Normal, you will even be provided a bag to put the food in.  Through the generosity of United Way of McLean County, United Steelworkers Local 787, Bridgestone-Firestone, the Bloomington-Normal Trades & Labor Assembly and NALC Branch 522, bags imprinted with the food drive’s national sponsors will be delivered to homes prior to the food drive.  The letter carriers in many smaller communities of our county will also participate in the food drive. The food collected in those communities will be delivered to the food pantries within those communities.

Thank you for supporting the National Association of Letter Carriers Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive.

The Livingston & McLean Counties Building and Construction Trades Council will hold their annual Construction Career Fair at IBEW Local 197 on Friday, May 17. The fair, which is intended for junior high students, provides them with hands-on demonstrations of some of the skills and tools used by the different building tradesmen.  The students are also provided with information on the proper educational path that they will need should they choose to enter one of the trades.  The program is very popular with area schools and something the trades men and women look forward to presenting each year.

On Saturday, May 18, Laborers Local 996 will sponsor their 21st Annual Charity Golf Outing for Dollars Against Diabetes.  The outing will be held at Fairlakes Golf Club in Secor, Illinois.  Dollars Against Diabetes (D.A.D.) is an annual campaign spearheaded by the Building and Construction Trades Department of the AFL-CIO.  Diabetes is a serious chronic disease that affects more than16 million people in America.  If left untreated, diabetes leads to devastating complications such blindness, vessel damage, amputations, heart disease, stroke and even death.  Last year, Local 996 raised approximately $14,000 for D.A.D. In fact, for many years Local 996 has been one of the Top 10 labor organizations contributing to D.A.D.

UAW Local 2488 will hold the 2nd Annual Gary Nichols Memorial Golf Outing on Saturday, June 15. The proceeds from the outing will be divided between United Way of McLean County and the UAW Local 2488 Education Committee Scholarship Fund.  The outing will take place at The Den at Fox Creek located at 3002 Fox Creek Road in Bloomington.  The four-man best ball scramble is limited to 128 golfers; the cost is only $75 per person.  To register call Ron Dixon at 309.310.8086 or visit www.uaw2488.org.

“The union is the school, the college, it’s where you learn to know and love each other and work with each other and bear each other’s burdens, each other’s sorrows and each other’s joys.” – Mary “Mother” Jones

GL 5/13
LiUNA 362, AFL-CIO