Thank you from District 13 to all who gave to our members in Louisiana who were devastated by the recent flooding. We have received generous donations from our District 13 Brothers and Sisters, locals from throughout the union, other USW districts and community organizations to help our Brothers and Sisters in need.
The recent floods in and around Baton Rouge have affected 13 USW locals in District 13. We have more than 1,000 members in those locals who, because of the outpouring of support both from within and outside our district, are receiving some much needed help.
Local 1505 in Hodge, La., delivered the first load of supplies to USW Local 620 in Gonzales, La., which is being used as our distribution center.
This was followed by supplies from Local 13-1 out of Texas City and Pasadena, Texas, who sent an extended van full of clothes and shoes donated by our members.
This past weekend we received a tractor trailer full of Brawny paper towels from Georgia Pacific’s Port Hudson facility where our USW Locals 335 and 1334 members work, many of whom were also affected.
Soon after that truck was unloaded, another came, a 24-foot truck from USW Local 752L in Texarkana, Ark., full of donated supplies such as clothes, water, food, cleaning supplies, toiletries, bedding supplies, and even dog food.
All of the donated supplies, bucket drops at the District 9 and District 13 conferences, generous donations from District 9 Director Flippo and District 13 Director Garza, donations from the District 13 Council, and the outpouring from various locals and individuals have resulted in a relief program going directly to our members with much needed supplies of food, water, clothes, toiletries and cleaning supplies. It has been nothing short of amazing.
We also received supplies of cleanup kits from the American Red Cross with the assistance of Louisiana AFL-CIO President Louis Reine, who also sent us some multi-purpose germicidal detergent that we are also distributing to our members. Zummo sausage also donated several cases of sausage to feed our members.
A special thank you to Jordy Richardson, Sean Clouatre and Doug Watts from Local 620 for the use of their union hall, to Marty Poche and Sandie Melancon from Local 750 for cooking and serving meals to our members and to Cheryl Arnold of Local 13-12 and Dianne Babin from the Sub-District Office who worked hard every day to organize and get relief to our members.
We appreciate all our volunteers, but those listed above have been unselfish in the time and energy that they have put forth to date.
A big thank you to all who have come to the aid of their Brothers and Sisters in their time of need!
Sincerely,
Rubin Garza, District 13 Director
John Link, District 13 Assistant to the Director
Sonny Sanders, District 13 Sub-District Director
Downloadable/Printable PDF: D13 Flooding Thank You
