Locals Giving Back

UWUA members serve their communities in many ways outside of the work they do in their jobs.

Twice a year, water workers from Local 648 pack food boxes for the CEO Food Bank in Wilkes Barre/Scranton, PA. This group helped out in January.

 

 

On November 18, Local 132’s Women’s Committee worked with Los Angeles Community Labor Services and the LA Federation of Labor to distribute over 1,500 turkeys to families in need and union families out of work.

 

 

In 2013, three Michigan locals started a “Turkey Drive” to raise funds to provide Thanksgiving meals to needy customers across the state. It became an annual project and grew over the years in both the number of locals participating and the money raised.

In 2023, seven Michigan State Utility Worker Council locals (101, 104, 105, 119, 123, 144, and 254) raised $17,200 and provided 513 complete dinners to families in Pontiac, Roseville, Warren, Lansing, and Bay City. The locals targeted areas where they had worked on large replacement projects that had at times inconvenienced their customers. MSUWC Safety Representative Randy Koerber helps coordinate the effort and said, “We saw that in some of these areas, people struggled to make ends meet. We wanted to give back and help make a difference.”

In eleven years, the group has raised a total of $145,848 and delivered Thanksgiving meals to 5,275 families in need.