Contest caps off record year for Union Plus as hardship grants and scholarship awards top more than $2 million to union members.
Union Plus’s biggest year of giving is getting bigger. To make the holiday season brighter for union members — many of whom are on the front lines battling the coronavirus pandemic as first responders, health care workers, food workers and others — Union Plus will be giving away a total of $100,000 in $1,000 “thank you” awards to 100 deserving union members.
Union Plus is a non-profit founded by the AFL-CIO to provide additional benefits, savings and discounts to union members, as well as offer scholarships and exclusive grants during difficult times such as layoffs, furloughs and natural disasters. Since 2009, Union Plus has awarded over $14 million in grants and scholarships to union members.
"It has been a tremendously difficult year, for everyone in our country and in particular, those in our union family,” reflects Mitch Stevens, Union Plus president. “Our ‘Holiday Giveback campaign’ not only shares financial resources with extraordinary union members but also shines a light on their contribution to our communities. Union members are the backbone of our economy and many have made extraordinary sacrifices and contributions during this pandemic."
Entry to the Union Plus Holiday Giveback, is easy. Nominations can be made by visiting unionplus.org/holidaygiveback or by simply posting a video to Instagram telling us what makes their nominee extraordinary, using the hashtags #UnionPlusGiveAGrand and #Contest.
Members can nominate themselves or a friend or colleague. Nominations will be accepted until December 4, and winners will be announced by throughout December.
The end-of-year contest is an extension of the year of giving back to eligible union members by Union Plus.
Since the start of the pandemic, more than 1,500 union members have applied for direct assistance from the Union Plus Hardship Assistance program.
Union Plus is proud to have surpassed its previous records by distributing more than $2,000,000 in direct assistance to members to date this year. The “Holiday Giveback Campaign” aims to inspire members to recognize themselves and others for their extraordinary work in 2020.