Lee Sandberg, communications coordinator for the New Jersey State AFL-CIO, sends us this update.

The New Jersey State AFL-CIO, working together with its Executive Board members, central labor councils, Building Trades councils and affiliated unions, amassed a mountainous collection of union-made toys that was proudly presented to a team of U.S. Marines today in Trenton, on behalf of the U.S. Marine Corps' “Toys for Tots” program.

Several years ago, Roy Foster, president of the AFL-CIO Central Labor Council of Atlantic and Cape May Counties, was flipping through the radio stations in his car while driving through Philadelphia and landed on a program that peaked his interest.

Jon Israel, a Building and Construction Trades Department (BCTD) member, didn’t plan on falling off the roof of a house he was working on in Barrington, R.I. a few weeks ago. He also didn’t plan on the local labor movement organizing a holiday fundraiser to help his family get through his recovery from the serious injuries he sustained from the fall.

Yet there is a long history in the labor movement of stepping up community service during the holiday season. In Rhode Island, local labor unions are starting early with the holiday cheer this year. In addition to the fundraiser for Jon Israel, union members in Rhode Island are organizing a wide variety of community service opportunities.

More than 1,300 Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers in Minnesota, North Dakota and Iowa have been locked out by American Crystal Sugar for more than a year and a half. These working families are being denied incomes and health care benefits.  

This is a cross-post from the Machinists News, a blog focused on news of interest to members of the Machinists (IAM) District Lodge 751.

Machinists District Lodge 751 raised nearly $299,000 for Guide Dogs of America in 2012.

District President Tom Wroblewski presented the California-based charity with a check for $298,949.66 at the annual Guide Dogs Banquet on Nov. 17 in Las Vegas.

That’s a record one-year fundraising total for District 751, which is Guide Dogs of America’s top fundraiser across North America.

Watch "IAM's Guide Dogs of America Changes Lives" on YouTube. 

Hurricane Sandy survivors can find lots of information about filing insurance claims at the websites of these non-profit organizations:  United Policyholders and Consumer Federation of America.

Here are some things they recommend to keep in mind when filing a claim.

Aspiring citizens in New York City are not going anywhere after Superstorm Sandy devastated parts of the region. They are pitching in to help rebuild what was lost. Latino workers and day laborers organized themselves with assistance from El Centro del Inmigrante, which advocates for the economic advancement and well-being of immigrant workers and their families, to form the the Staten Island Day Laborer Hurricane Relief Brigade and other cleanup volunteer groups. Day laborers have volunteered to clean up New York City neighborhoods, including restaurants affected in Coney Island.

Check out the AFL-CIO's new In Our Communities website feature, "Union Members Fashion Super-Sized Salvation Army Kettle for the Holidays."

Around the holidays, grocery store shoppers expect to see a cheerful person in a Santa hat and red apron, ringing a bell and collecting donations in the iconic Salvation Army red kettle.

More than 10,000 Angelenos, including members of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor’s “Team Homeless Heroes,” took part in the United Way’s 2012 HomeWalk 5K Run/Walk Nov. 17 to raise funds to combat homelessness in the Los Angeles area. The more than 500 members of Team Homeless Heroes are from Los Angeles unions and the team is organized by the L.A. Fed’s AFL-CIO Community Services/United Way partnership. It focuses on the men and women who served our country and who are now facing homelessness. 

While the election and other stories have taken Superstorm Sandy out of the headlines, millions of Americans who were in the storm's path are still in need of assistance. Don't let the the short attention span of the news cycle delay necessary aid to those whose lives have been permanently altered.