Giving Thanks

Though the happiness brought by the help provided to needy families through this year's Community Services Agency's Holiday Basket Project can't be quantified - a child's smile is priceless - many organizations and individuals helped made a difference to 75 area families, the local labor community's own version of the 12 Days of Christmas:
-  1 collected a truckload of holiday toys and food, which was donated to a Prince George's County charity: Elevator Constructors Local 10
-  2 gave personal care items for Joseph's House in DC: AFSCME 2921 and 2477 at the Library of Congress
-  3 voluntered -- Brian Sullivan (OPEIU Local 2) at Sheet Metal Workers Int'l Association, Christopher Stolze, CareFirst Blue Cross/Blue Shield, Rolene McKnight, MWC AFL-CIO.
-  5 adopted families -- Change to Win, Int'l Association of Fire Fighters (OPEIU Local 2), National Labor College (OPEIU Local 2), AFGE District 14, AFGE National Office.
-  9 donated toys and food -- Sprinkler Fitters Local 669, Amalgamated Transit Union (OPEIU Local 2), Teamsters 96, OPEIU Local 2 and Washington Gas (over 300 toys collected!), Bricklayers and Allied Craft Workers (OPEIU Local 2), Association for Supervisory and Administrative School Personnel (ASASP), AFL-CIO (OPEIU Local 2, Newspaper Guild 35), Sheet Metal Workers International Association (OPEIU Local 2), DC Coalition of Black Trade Unionists, and the AFL-CIO Solidarity Center.
-  10 made financial donations -- Laborers District Council, AFGE 3615, Washington- Baltimore Newspaper Guild 35/CWA, Washington Building and Construction Trades Council, OPEIU Local 2, CWA 2336, Douglas and Peggy Pope, Dan and Karen Duncan, AFL-CIO Solidarity Center employees (OPEIU 2) Hind Cherrouk, Judy Murdock, Lisa McGowan, Selma Padrone Solera
"We may not have had a partridge in a pear tree, but we give thanks to all and special thanks to Teamsters 639 and President Tommy Ratliff for again allowing us to use their hall as a staging area for all our collections and distributions!" says CSA Executive Director Kathleen McKirchy.