To just get a glimpse of the physical, financial and emotional challenges Superstorm Sandy caused to a few of NYSUT’s members, read the December issue of The Word, the newsletter of the Faculty Association of Suffolk Community College. Here’s a link to it online. You’ll read about: Michael Berrell, who, what he didn’t lose to [...]

A Coney Island church sent out an “SOS: We have hungry people in need” and NYSUTs response was swift. NYSUT Mid-Hudson Regional Staff Director Ann Harrison arranged for the immediate delivery of truckloads of food donated from the mid-Hudson region to a church-run soup kitchen on Staten Island. Harrison thanked the NYSUT officers for expediting [...]

That’s a picture of NYSUT’s lobby. And that’s after NYSUT has already sent tons of food, cleaning materials and much-needed supplies to hurricane-impacted communities on Long Island and in New York City. Yesterday, NYSUT delivered food to a soup kitchen on Coney Island and, today, the truck left with a collection of supplies to the Tarrytown [...]

Schoharie TA members know how to return a favor. They, along with other NYSUT members from as far away as Glens Falls, boarded a bus early Saturday bound for Staten Island to help colleagues there clean up their homes after Superstorm Sandy wiped out their neighborhoods. It was a little more than a year ago [...]

Thanks for understanding that current events have kept us from updating the continued great reaction to the needs in flood-affected areas. Since our last update, and October 31 update, here’s the activity we’ve heard of: Led by Gina Valenze of the UFT, the Habitat For Humanity Club and UFT members at the Queens High School [...]

Raw FlipCam and iPhone video documenting union volunteers hard at work rebuilding a community ravaged by flooding.

That’s Bill Brooks back. Brooks is a Galway TA member. His wife Carrie is a Schoharie TA member. Bill was one of the many connections that brought a busload of Galway volunteers for the STAY effort. Field trips were cut from the budget, so the Galway TA, led by Carrie Herron, passed the hat and [...]

Craig Daniel manages the Amsterdam Home Depot. He and Schenectady manager Attilio Tebbano led a crew of Home Depot workers who volunteered to show people who had never installed insulation before, how to wield utility knives and staple guns safely.  The Schoharie TA was able to purchase nearly $30,000 worth of insulation for much less [...]

Not sure how the weather has been where you are, but this will be the first rain-free weekend in the Capital District since Sept. 17-18. Better yet, a whole cadre of NYSUT locals are doing good this weekend. We’ve got unions from all over. Here’s a list so far: Not sure whether to list alphabetically [...]

While in Binghamton to cover the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk, of course I also wanted to find out about how people were coping with flooding. Broome County has estimated at least 5,500 people were displaced. Displaced can mean the home is gone, or it can mean you just can’t live there until the [...]