Indiana Unions Provide Food Aid for Jobless Workers

[Omaha Steve]

http://blog.aflcio.org/2010/08/31/indiana-unions-provide-food-aid-for-jobless-workers/

Jade Mendoza, Indiana AFL-CIO Field Communications director, sends us this report.

Garland Stovall has been helping laid-off and unemployed union members get food on their table for more than five years. Starting with United Way, Garland ran food pantries for the Sheet Metal Workers (SMWIA) and the United Steelworkers (USW) unions before heading up the food pantry at the Indiana AFL-CIO office for the Carpenters Local 60, Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 481, and USW Local 1999 today.



For more than a year, with the help of Gleaners Food Distribution Center, Garland keeps dozens of oversized shelving units stocked with items for every dietary need. From cans of corn to jars of spaghetti sauce, union members sign in and take what they need. Garland puts it this way:

Between 30 and 40 families use it every month. Laid-off or out of work, by no fault of their own, people are struggling to put food on the table and as the labor community, we stand together. It is a sign that the state isn’t doing enough to keep jobs here in Indiana.


As members get ready for Labor Day activities this weekend, organizers of the Central Indiana Labor Council parade in downtown Indianapolis are asking participants and spectators to bring donations for the food pantry school supplies. Says Susan Fuldauer, president of the Central Indiana Labor Council:

Labor Day is much more than a celebration for working families in Indiana. With one in 10 people out of work, it is a wake-up call that we must do better. We have to create jobs, protect social security and elect officials who won’t vote against working people.”

If you’re in Indiana, you can make a donation of non-perishable food items, toiletries or school supplies by dropping them off at the IN AFL-CIO Office, 1701 W 18th Street, Indianapolis, Ind.