Union 'MVPs' give 10,500 hours to their communities

SEATTLE – Volunteers from the Machinists Volunteer Program performed 10,529.5 hours of community service around Puget Sound in 2012, Machinists Union District Lodge 751 announced.

The union will honor its top volunteers at an awards banquet at 5 p.m. April 20 at its Seattle Union Hall, 9125 15th Place S.

The list of the MVP’s projects in 2012 included:

• A series of fundraising events that brought in a record $299,000 for Guide Dogs of America;
• Building seven wheelchair ramps for families in Auburn, Graham, Kent, Shoreline, Stanwood and the Seattle neighborhoods of South Park and West Seattle, plus installing safety railing at a home in Bothell;
• Support for community service agencies including Northwest Harvest in Kent, the Salvation Army of White Center and Toys for Tots in Everett;
• Participation in the annual Letter Carriers Food Drive in Snohomish County;
• Taking part in two outreach events to provide services to homeless people – the Community Resource Exchange in Seattle and Project Homeless Connect in Tacoma;
• Regularly preparing and serving weekend meals to homeless people at the Everett Gospel Mission and The Rescue Mission in Tacoma; and
• Two Adopt-a-Road clean-up sites, one in Everett and one in Kent.

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MVPs also spearheaded an effort that collected 552 jars of peanut butter – part of nearly 2 tons of peanut butter collected by the Pierce County Central Labor Council in 2012 to benefit food banks countywide.

The Machinists Volunteer Program was established in 1997 by the late Bill Johnson, when he was District 751’s president. Johnson died March 5.

“Bill was very proud of what the MVPs had become and of all the things they do to help others,” said Ed Lutgen, a current District 751 staff member who was the first MVP Committee chairman. “He had a vision for what the committee could be, but I think even he was surprised at how much it has grown.”

Originally formed in 1935 to represent hourly workers at the Boeing Co., District Lodge 751 of the International Association of Machinists & Aerospace Workers now represents more than 33,000 working men and women at 49 employers across Washington, Oregon and California.