Berry Craig, recording secretary for the Paducah-based Western Kentucky AFL-CIO Area Council and a professor of history at West Kentucky Community and Technical College, is a former daily newspaper and Associated Press columnist and currently a member of AFT Local 1360. Craig sends us this.

How can you help your union get better coverage in small-town media? 

First, try getting to know the newspaper, TV and radio reporters. Introduce yourself by calling them up or sending them an email with your photo. It’s a good idea to put a face with an email. Better yet, drop by for a visit. 

Pro football players and members of the NFL Players Association (NFLPA) were busy during the 2012 offseason giving back to their communities. Carolina Panthers wide receiver Steve Smith pledged to donate $100,000 to help cover the medical bills of survivors of the Aurora, Colo., theater shooting; Kansas City Chiefs players helped rebuild homes devastated by the tornado in Joplin, Mo.; and Chicago Bears rookies planted trees at LaFollette Park. Read a full list of the community service work here. 

In the remote village of Lenya, located in the province of Nyanza in Kenya, only girls attend primary school. Instead of getting an education, the boys must support and feed their families by fishing in nearby Lake Victoria.

William “Bill” McCarthy, president of the AFL-CIO Minneapolis Regional Labor Federation (MRLF), is recipient of the 2012 United Way’s prestigious Joseph A. Beirne Community Services Award. As president of the MRLF and member of UNITEHERE! Local 17, McCarthy has dedicated his life to the pursuit of social and economic justice for workers and their families.

Union members have always found time to help out their communities. Click here to read about laid-off Taylor, Mich., Fire Fighters (IAFF) members refusing to let the heat stand in the way of their annual fundraising drive for the Muscular Dystrophy Association and here to see how several unions in McKeesport, Pa., are supporting local Boys and Girls Clubs.

AFL-CIO Community Services Director Will Fischer describes union volunteer efforts to help locked-out workers in Buffalo, N.Y.

When nearly 400 members of Office and Professional Employees (OPEIU) Local 212 in Buffalo, N.Y., were locked out by BlueCross BlueShield of Western New York, the area union Rapid Response team began meeting to determine the best ways to help the locked-out workers and their families. AFL-CIO Community Services liaisons Mary Martino and Bill Jakobi, active participants in the team, helped educate the locked-out employees on available assistance programs, including unemployment insurance and other support programs.

AFL-CIO Community Services Director Will Fischer describes union volunteer efforts to stretch the limited dollars of Sacramento area nonprofit organizations.

Every year local nonprofit agencies spend thousands of dollars on toilet paper for families in need. That’s money they could be spending on much-needed services that benefit the community. Since 2009, the Sacramento Central Labor Council and the local United Way have partnered to create Toilet Paper Drives to help local nonprofit partners offset costs and redirect the money saved into vital programs.

AFL-CIO Community Services Director Will Fischer describes union volunteer efforts at a community crisis center in Georgia.

Nearly 50 union brothers and sisters from across the state of Georgia took time out in recent days to lend a hand to a Georgia community. Working with the United Way of Coastal Georgia, participants in the Georgia AFL-CIO Community Services’ Legislative and Organizing Conference provided much-needed repairs, maintenance and sprucing up at the Glynn Community Crisis Center.

AFL-CIO Community Services Director Will Fischer reports on the recent Oregon Wants to Work meetings for the unemployed.

Earlier this week, Oregon Wants to Work, an organization that advocates for the needs of the unemployed and underemployed, held a meeting with dozens of jobless workers in the Portland area to help them learn new skills to gain employment.

AFL-CIO Community Services Director Will Fischer reports on the recent Walk for Burn Awareness in Boston.

More than 350 firefighters, burn survivors and supporters came together on Sunday for the second annual New England Walk for Burn Awareness.