Local 23 on the march: Brad Filbert, Cathy Sherrill, George Gorder, Julie Moore, Sean Shelton, son Evan and dog Otto. Photo by Holly Hulscher.
By John Showalter
The United Way of Pierce County, Wash. honored longshore Local 23 with its Community Partner of the Year Award in the “labor union” category. Local 23 President Conrad Spell accepted the inaugural award at an April 17 ceremony at the Greater Tacoma Convention and Trade Center. Tacoma Mayor Bill Baarsma, Pierce County Council Vice Chair Calvin Goings, and Tacoma City Council members, among others, also attended.
The award recognizes the local’s “…outstanding community partnership with United Way, whose efforts have changed reality for residents of Pierce County in dynamic, sustainable ways.” The Award Review Committee—comprised of elected officials, business and labor leaders—considered applicants’ contribution to the United Way’s three major goals: housing availability, children and youth needs, and health care access.
Local 23 received high marks in all three categories. According to Emma Faidley, Director of Labor Participation and AFL-CIO Community Services Liaison for United Way of Pierce County, the local impressed the committee with charitable activities that touched every area of the organization’s goals.
“That’s phenomenal, unheard of in our experience,” said Faidley, “Community leaders were amazed that the longshore union is out there doing this work. I’ve never known a union local of only 900 members doing so much in their community.”
Faidley referred to Local 23’s work with the Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital Trauma Center, with the Tacoma and Fife public schools, with local soup kitchens, and with community activities such as the Paint Tacoma Beautiful program. Todd Kelley, a spokesman for Mary Bridge, said Local 23 recently donated $50,000 towards building 30 new units to house the families of children in emergency care at the hospital. The hospital serves as the regional referral center for acute pediatric care in Southwestern Washington. Construction of the units will begin in 2009.
“This donation is a great testament to what labor can do in the community,” said Frank Colarusso, Executive Director of the Mary Bridge Children’s Foundation, a nonprofit organization that raises funds for the hospital’s capital projects.
The local’s relationship with the hospital dates back many years. Nick Engels, Sr., a Local 23 pensioner, helped finance construction of the hospital’s original 12 parent units. In 1993, Engels proposed to the trade unions, Local 23 and Mary Bridges Hospital to build a wing for families whose children are in the intensive care unit. The funds paid for the renovation of a nearby 20-unit hotel. Engels donated $60,000 from his own savings towards the renovation.
Dragan Butorac, Local 23’s Director of Charitable Giving, explained that the local is particularly pleased that its members have been able to help public school children. The local’s Family of Need Program has given $200 checks to the parents of academically achieving, economically disadvantaged families in 38 grade schools in Tacoma since 2000. In 2006 alone, the local handed out approximately $10,000 in checks to Tacoma students’ families, and $1,200 to Fife students, as well as more than 50 individual family requests. Families receive this money during the December Holiday season with a card from the members wishing them well and reminding the children that “knowledge is power.”
In addition to their donations, Local 23 members have given time and energy to their community for many years. Members volunteer monthly at St. Leo’s Church’s Hospitality Kitchen in Tacoma’s Hilltop neighborhood, give blood monthly at their hall, and raise money while walking against cancer and other diseases. George Ginnis, a deceased Local 23 member, initiated fundraising efforts for the Hospitality Kitchen more than 20 years ago. The local still works closely with the Emergency Food Network of Pierce County to distribute food to regional food banks. Between five and 10 members volunteer monthly to feed 400-500 people at the center, led by member Byron Baydo. Mike Jagielski leads the monthly blood drive and bone marrow screening in the local’s parking lot.
Fifteen years ago, Gail Ross, then a ‘B’-registrant, got together with the local’s baseball team and volunteer casual longshore workers to paint the homes of underprivileged people in Tacoma. This spontaneous action grew into the annual Paint Tacoma Beautiful event, where volunteers break out their brushes and give old homes a fresh coat that brightens up the city.
Holly Hulscher and Mandy Peterson, who are sisters, organize fellow members for the annual Multiple Sclerosis Walk. In 2006 and 2007, the local gave $1,500 to the cause. Eighty-five members raised more than $7,300 in 2006, and in 2007, more than 120 walkers are expected to participate. Another medical fundraiser, the Relay of Life, started in Tacoma in 1984. It brings out dozens of members to walk for 24 hours raising funds to fight cancer.
In addition, Local 23 contributes food and barbeques approximately 5,000 hamburgers each year for Tacoma’s Rainbow Festival and its Rainier School Picnic, area-wide parties for developmentally disabled people.
The United Way has honored the local in 2006 with its Working Together Award, which the local received for its community work with terminal operator Totem Ocean Trailer Express (TOTE) and its CEO Robert Magee, a prominent philanthropist.
“The membership of Local 23 is honored to receive this award from United Way,” Conrad Spell said. “Our local has a long history of giving back something positive to our community. We as longshore workers are so blessed to have a lifestyle that few working Americans enjoy.”
