Oct. 5—In a less than a month, the AFL-CIO Union Community Fund’s Hurricane Relief Fund surpassed its goal of raising $500,000 to help the survivors of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The fund collected $507,500 in donations by Oct. 4 and donations are still coming in. Some 3,725 donors generously gave an average gift of $136. The overwhelming generosity of union members and allies will go a long way toward helping restore the lives of working families that have lost homes and jobs along the Gulf Coast.

The Union Community Fund’s fund-raising drive is part of a massive effort by the union movement to aid hurricane survivors. Many union members, including firefighters, police, electrical workers, nurses and medical personnel, were the first on the scene to provide relief and aid to Gulf Coast survivors.

Unions Uniquely Poised to Provide Relief Efforts

The Fire Fighters homepage offers a slide show depicting IAFF relief and rescue efforts and the damage to fire stations in Katrina’s path. It also provides several updates a week from its Baton Rouge, La., command center, which coordinates the efforts of volunteer member support teams from around the country. On Sept. 22, crews from the Wisconsin, Boston and the New York City fire departments were relieved by new teams from Los Angeles and Massachusetts. Also assisting with operations are members from Natchitoches, La.; Knoxville, Tenn.; Hoboken, N.J.; Jacksonville, Fla.; and Cincinnati.

When Katrina hit Louisiana, AFSCME members on staff at the Lallie Kemp Regional Medical Center, in Independence, La., worked around the clock for days at a time to provide services to hurricane survivors. The workers, all members of Local 3121 (Council 17), handled medical emergencies ranging from bloody gashes and wounds to a woman who suffered severe burns when her car caught fire.

Donations to the Union Community Fund have enabled the AFL-CIO to establish seven Worker Centers and three projects throughout the Southeast to provide information and a range of assistance. The centers are in Atlanta; Baton Rouge; Dallas; Houston; Mobile, Ala.; Pearl, Miss.; and San Antonio. The federation also has established two small-scale projects in Galveston and Corpus Christi, Texas, to help survivors in Beaumont/Port Arthur, Texas.

Unions also are planning strategies to help the survivors who will need long-term help after the media in the Gulf Coast has faded. A delegation from the AFL-CIO visited the storm-ravaged areas Oct. 3–4 to assess the future needs of the area and to suggest ways in which union members can help supply those needs.

“Unions are in a unique position to play a key role in the rebuilding of the Gulf Coast after the massive destruction caused by the hurricanes,” says AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka, who’s heading up the AFL-CIO’s hurricane relief efforts. “Working people hit by this disaster need good paying jobs and housing to restore their lives. Unions are mobilizing to meet those needs, and more.”

AFL-CIO Unions Go the Distance in Providing Hurricane Relief and Assistance

The following are only a few examples of the huge outpouring of concern and support by AFL-CIO affiliated unions, which have donated millions of dollars for relief and supplies. Find more on union fund-raising efforts and assistance at www.aflcio.org/hurricane.

·        The Electrical Workers opened an office in Lake Charles, La., to help hurricane survivors and IBEW members heading South to work on hurricane rebuilding projects. The office will coordinate with locals and business managers from across the country who wish to offer support and will accept such relief items as tools.

·        The American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada website reports that AFM members the Dixie Chicks are donating the entire proceeds from the digital download of their song “I Hope” to AFM’s Gulf Coast Relief Fund and Habitat for Humanity. The song is available to download at Sony Connect, Rhapsody, Yahoo! Music Unlimited, SonyMusicStore.com, iTunes, MSN and Napster.

·          The Vermont Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals, an AFT affiliate, will send some 50 members to the Gulf Coast area to work with the Red Cross to meet health care needs for hurricane survivors. The New York Federation of Nurses and other AFT health professionals from New Jersey and Connecticut local unions are volunteering in the storm-damaged area.

·          Twelve-year-old Sara Jolly, the daughter of an Amalgamated Transit Union Local 880 member, set up a lemonade stand in her National Park, N.J., hometown and raised $145. When her dad received a letter from ATU President Warren George about the union’s relief efforts, “I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to send in the money I raised,” she wrote George.

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§         Find out how you can help hurricane survivors.

§         Read about more union fund-raising efforts and assistance.