Unions Have ‘Good’ Turnout At First Joint Event
October 20, 2024 at 3:43 p.m.
For their first event together, the pancake and sausage breakfast hosted by Warsaw Professional Firefighters Local 5461 and United Steelworkers Local 809 on Saturday went well.
“I think it was good,” said Jeff Hooker, president of United Steelworkers Local 809 from Johnson & Johnson MedTech (formerly DePuy-Synthes). “You always like to have more, but for our first event together, I’d call it a success.”
Max Kinsey, Warsaw Professional Firefighters Local 5461 president, agreed. “We weren’t really sure how many people were going to come so we weren’t sure how to prepare and we had a pretty decent turnout,” he said.
The breakfast at the Shrine Building included sausage, eggs, pancakes, milk, orange juice and coffee. Cost was a free-will donation.
Proceeds from the breakfast will benefit the lunch programs at Warsaw Community Schools. One program is for the holidays, bringing in meals for children that are less fortunate that may not get those good Christmas meals that a lot of people get through the holidays. The other program is the free and reduced lunches.
Kinsey said attendance Saturday was fairly steady. There was no rush at one time, but the volunteers from both unions stayed busy for most of the 3-1/2-hour breakfast.
“This is the first of, I think, a lot of things, and I’m kind of excited about working with Max,” Hooker said. “We’ve been kind of talking for the last few months, doing some things together, and we’ll learn from everyone we do and try to do things to help the community.”
Kinsey agreed, saying, “The Steelworkers have been great for us, helping us get up and running. I’ve said that several times. And just to work with them and to have the same mindset of wanting to get out in the community, help the community.”
Hooker said the next event they’ll do is their annual Christmas dinner giveaway probably. Sometimes they do that on Christmas Eve, unless it’s on a Sunday and then they do it the day before. This will be Local 809’s 15th year for the giveaway.
“So, we’ve worked a deal out over the years with Kroger, sometimes we use Meijer, to try to get a family meal - ham, potatoes, vegetable, dessert, stuffing - and we ask each one of our members - it’s usually around $20, the deal we work out - at the plant to donate enough for a meal. Some donate for 10 meals,” Hooker said.
They usually raise enough funds to give away 250 to over 300 meals at the union hall.
“We go pick it all up in the morning, take it to the union hall, bag it all and then folks that need some help, they just drive up and we hand it to them and wish them a Merry Christmas and move on, just to make sure that everybody gets at least a good Christmas dinner anyway,” Hooker said.
Not only is doing the giveaway a lot of fun, but he said it also brings a lot of solidarity to the union members and their families. The union has 350 members.
Hooker said he just looks forward to the future and working with Local 5461.
For their first event together, the pancake and sausage breakfast hosted by Warsaw Professional Firefighters Local 5461 and United Steelworkers Local 809 on Saturday went well.
“I think it was good,” said Jeff Hooker, president of United Steelworkers Local 809 from Johnson & Johnson MedTech (formerly DePuy-Synthes). “You always like to have more, but for our first event together, I’d call it a success.”
Max Kinsey, Warsaw Professional Firefighters Local 5461 president, agreed. “We weren’t really sure how many people were going to come so we weren’t sure how to prepare and we had a pretty decent turnout,” he said.
The breakfast at the Shrine Building included sausage, eggs, pancakes, milk, orange juice and coffee. Cost was a free-will donation.
Proceeds from the breakfast will benefit the lunch programs at Warsaw Community Schools. One program is for the holidays, bringing in meals for children that are less fortunate that may not get those good Christmas meals that a lot of people get through the holidays. The other program is the free and reduced lunches.
Kinsey said attendance Saturday was fairly steady. There was no rush at one time, but the volunteers from both unions stayed busy for most of the 3-1/2-hour breakfast.
“This is the first of, I think, a lot of things, and I’m kind of excited about working with Max,” Hooker said. “We’ve been kind of talking for the last few months, doing some things together, and we’ll learn from everyone we do and try to do things to help the community.”
Kinsey agreed, saying, “The Steelworkers have been great for us, helping us get up and running. I’ve said that several times. And just to work with them and to have the same mindset of wanting to get out in the community, help the community.”
Hooker said the next event they’ll do is their annual Christmas dinner giveaway probably. Sometimes they do that on Christmas Eve, unless it’s on a Sunday and then they do it the day before. This will be Local 809’s 15th year for the giveaway.
“So, we’ve worked a deal out over the years with Kroger, sometimes we use Meijer, to try to get a family meal - ham, potatoes, vegetable, dessert, stuffing - and we ask each one of our members - it’s usually around $20, the deal we work out - at the plant to donate enough for a meal. Some donate for 10 meals,” Hooker said.
They usually raise enough funds to give away 250 to over 300 meals at the union hall.
“We go pick it all up in the morning, take it to the union hall, bag it all and then folks that need some help, they just drive up and we hand it to them and wish them a Merry Christmas and move on, just to make sure that everybody gets at least a good Christmas dinner anyway,” Hooker said.
Not only is doing the giveaway a lot of fun, but he said it also brings a lot of solidarity to the union members and their families. The union has 350 members.
Hooker said he just looks forward to the future and working with Local 5461.