Judy Parkins, AFL-CIO director of Community Services, sends us this report.

Members of Letter Carriers (NALC) Branch 124 in New Orleans and volunteers from the Prince of Wales Social Aid and Pleasure Club pitched in with Rebuild Together New Orleans in October.

Karen Gownley of the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO reports on contacts for those in need after the floods in that state.   

Many parts of Pennsylvania were devastated by the September floods. The Pennsylvania AFL-CIO has a network of labor liaisons who are helping connect those who need help with those who can help.

In less than a year, Texas wildfires have consumed 3.6 million acres, roughly the size of Connecticut, notes Paul Begala, an affiliated professor of public policy at Georgetown and Daily Beast and CNN contributor. Four people have been killed and some 1,400 homes have been lost just in the most recent fire. Of the 10 largest wildfires in Texas history, six have occurred this year. Yet, as Begala points out:

Texas governor and GOP presidential candidate Rick Perry has cut funding for volunteer firefighters, who are the first responders to 90 percent of all wildfires in Texas, by 75 percent.

Bud Biscardo from United Way Worldwide reports on the kickoff of the 2011 United Way campaign.

Across the country, the AFL-CIO Community Services Network is kicking off the 2011 United Way campaign with union-sponsored events—rallies, golf outings, kickoff lunches and dinners. All these events have one goal: to show union members’ strong support for the United Way.

AFL-CIO Community Services Director Will Fischer sends us this report.

We are happy to introduce Nicole Fuller, our new AFL-CIO Community Services Liaison for the United Way of Southeastern Pennsylvania/Philadelphia Council.

Mark Caddo of the United Way of Greater Cincinnati, reports on union members and corporate executives who came together to rebuild a school playground in Walton, Ky.

The Early Learning Center at Walton-Verona Elementary School is nestled between two farms in the rolling hills of Walton, Ky., near Cincinnati. Late last month, with a heat index above 100 degrees, members of the UAW, United Steelworkers (USW), AFSCME and the Laborers (LIUNA) partnered with United Way of  Greater Cincinnati’s latest crop of  volunteer “loaned executives” from local businesses to help rebuild the school playground. The play area had been  destroyed by recent strong storm winds and  the wear and tear of  two years of daily school ground play.

AFL-CIO Community Services Director Will Fischer describes union volunteer efforts in Kenosha, Wis., to collect clothes for those in need.

United Way of Kenosha County (Wis.) recently wrapped up its “Bare Necessities Drive”  which included participation of 20 area businesses and unions that aided 13 nonprofit care agencies in the community.

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 sends this report from the Lehigh Valley (Pa.) Labor Council.

Since 1999 in Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley, the local labor movement has been helping teenagers and pre-teens develop leadership, teamwork and planning skills through TeenWorks. Developed by former AFL-CIO Community Service Liaison Ron Achey and funded entirely by Lehigh valley unions, TeenWorks allows young people to decide how to allocate grants for and plan community service projects.

Firefighters are everyday heroes, protecting and serving the public. But a group of Fire Fighters (IAFF) members in Worcester, Mass., have found a way to be heroes in their spare time by building ramps for people who need one.