If you live in the Palm Beach, Fla., Treasure Coast area and want to help make Thanksgiving happen for families who might need a boost, you can join the Big Heart Brigade’s Thanksgiving Feast, 2012. Supported by the United Way of Palm Beach County Partnership, which includes the Palm Beach-Treasure Coast AFL-CIO, the Big Heart Brigade is looking for 4,000 volunteers who can help prepare, cook, package and distribute the nearly 100,000 meals for the homeless and disadvantaged.

Toledo union members pitched in during United Way's Week of Caring to help build a home for a local family. Volunteers, including members of UAW Local 14 and AFSCME Local 544, along with AFL-CIO Labor Community Services liaisons Micheal Alexander and Laura Harrison, joined Habitat for Humanity on the project.

Volunteers, organized through United Way of Greater Toledo, helped install siding on the house. The entire project will take several months to complete. 

See more photos from the United Way of Greater Toledo's Week of Caring 2012.  

We're kicking off the Labor Day weekend with a very special "thank you" message from United Way President and CEO Brian Gallagher, to a union member who changed his life. Watch the YouTube video in the post. Gallagher also thanked all the union members and affiliates of the AFL-CIO for their community service efforts across the country. 

Don't forget to send your own video or free e-card to someone whose work you appreciate at www.aflcio.org/ThankYou. 

Mei Cobb, vice president of volunteer & employee engagement at United Way Worldwide, sends us this.

In the United States, we celebrate Labor Day on the first Monday in September to recognize the economic and social contributions of working men and women. This Labor Day, I’d like to recognize two groups of union members who are volunteering in support of United Way initiatives.

For the past six years, the Erie-Crawford Central Labor Council’s Community Services Committee has helped sponsor an annual “Back to School Free Haircut Day” in conjunction with Michael Hooks of Michael’s Hair Salon in Erie, Pa. In 2006, only 30 or 40 people showed up to the event. This year, it was more than 700.

This year, AFL-CIO Community Services liaison Ron Oliver says more than 700 children took part and, on top of the free haircuts from Hooks and a team of volunteer stylists, each child received a backpack of school supplies and a children’s book.

We all know unions have our backs on the job, but did you know they also have your bottoms and soles?

Atlanta-North Georgia Labor Council Community Services Committee just completed a successful underwear drive where they netted 704 items (socks, belts, T-shirts, underwear and bras), which were delivered to Crossroads Community Ministries in Atlanta yesterday morning.

Want to help your favorite NFL player and member of the NFL Players Association (NFLPA) fight against school dropout rates in your community?

Pledge to become a reader, tutor or mentor, along with the 30 football players and the United Way initiative.

Hundreds of babies and toddlers from low-income families in the Green Bay, Wis., area will be happier and drier in the coming months, thanks to the 13,000 diapers collected by Brown County United Way, in partnership with the Greater Green Bay Labor Council Community Services Committee and 21 community partners. Dan Wadle, the AFL-CIO Community Services liaison, says:

It’s a case where there’s a lot of need in the community as far as with low-income families. It’s difficult to afford diapers.

United Way of Metropolitan Nashville was in dire need of a new trailer to help with community outreach efforts. That’s where the local unions came in.

Central Labor Council of Nashville and Middle Tennessee, Nashville Building Trades, Tennessee AFL-CIO Labor Council and 39 affiliated local and regional unions pitched in donations for the trailer and the artwork along the sides. The trailer was used last Thursday for United Way's Day of Action, when it delivered backpacks and school supplies to area schools for children in need. 

Something as simple as a pair of “Cars” sneakers can make a huge difference in a family’s budget.  UAW Local 685 in Kokomo, Ind., handed out school supplies and shoes to more than 200 children Tuesday at its headquarters during the annual UAW giveaway, the Kokomo Tribune reported.