Laborers' Union donates $30,000 construction project, easing pressure on Red Cross hurricane relief funds
Red Cross to raise money for Gulf Coast victims while union apprentices work this Saturday
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RENO
(Friday, 9-16-2005) – This Saturday, organized labor will work for
the American Red Cross which will use the occasion to work for Gulf Coast
hurricane victims.
Beginning at 7:00 a.m. on Sept. 17, members of Laborers' Union Local 169/AFL-CIO
will re-pave the parking lot of the American Red Cross in southeast Reno.
Materials and labor totaling $30,000 have been donated under sponsorship
of the Northern Nevada Laborers-Associated General Contractors Training
Fund.
"This project kept getting
shifted to the bottom of our list to ensure that we had funds to respond
to disasters, so the Laborers' work is greatly appreciated," stated
Caroline Punches, Executive Director of the
Northern Nevada Chapter of the Red Cross.
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UPGRADING SKILLS AND THE COMMUNITY (9-17-2005) — Laborers' Local 169 President and Apprenticeship Coordinator Tony Mayorga provides on-the-job training for a union apprentice. |
"This
repair work is long overdue," she added, "the asphalt is seriously
deteriorated."
The offices of the Northern
Nevada Chapter of the American Red Cross will be open during the Saturday
construction to accept financial donations for Gulf Coast hurricane relief
and assist victims of the disaster. The Red Cross is located at 1190 Corporate
Blvd. in the Dermody Industrial park southwest of Mill Street and McCarran
Blvd.
"When the Red Cross sees a need, they act. We saw their need and
are honored to do the same for them," Laborers' Local 169 president
Tony Mayorga
said. He has taught Red Cross CPR and first aid classes for several years
and is also the union's apprenticeship coordinator.
"We are happy to do this
as a public service to free up dollars for disaster relief," stated
Local 169 Business Manager Richard "Skip" Daly.
Q&D Construction will "spray tack" the site this Friday.
Q&D will donate the oil for that phase. The 20,000 square-foot parking
area will require 185 tons of asphalt. Members of Operating
Engineers Union Local 3/AFL-CIO will man the paving equipment. T.W.
Construction of Sparks will provide the hardware.
"After we put down a 1.5-inch overlay, Laborers' Union apprentices
will seal it. We are working toward having a striping class finish the
project," Mayorga said.
The Red Cross resurfacing is the latest in a long line of major community
service donations from the union. Local 169 has re-paved the parking lot
of the Foursquare Church and the front and rear parking areas of the Reno
offices of the Committee to Aid Abused
Women. The CAAW project was valued at $40,000. CAAW honored Local
169 and the Associated General Contractors with its Hannah
Humanitarian Award in 2000.
Laborers' International Union Local 169/AFL-CIO
was established in Reno in 1902 and currently represents more than 1,500
members working throughout northern Nevada.
UNIONS AND CONTRACTORS DONATE TIME AND EQUIPMENT TO PAVE PARKING
AREAS
OF COMMITTEE TO AID ABUSED WOMEN
(RENO, 5-27-1999) — Union women and men have completely repaved the driveways and parking areas at the Committee to Aid Abused Women (CAAW) at 1735 Vassar Street in Reno. Apprentices from Laborers' Union Local 169 and Operating Engineers Local 3 worked on the project, along with Pete Cox, Local 3's longtime district representative.
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LETTING CAAW SPEND ITS MONEY HELPING WOMEN (5-27-1999) — Operating Engineers Local 3 district representative Pete Cox mans the heavy equipment as a volunteer paving the parking lot of the Committee to Aid Abused Women in Reno. |
Unions and contractors donated $40,000 worth of time and equipment to the community service organization. Apprentices from Laborers' Union Local 169 and Operating Engineers Local 3 performed the work under the supervision of Laborers Apprenticeship Director Tony Mayorga.
It could not have happened without heavy duty equipment and a master operator to run it. Granite Construction turned over the use of an asphalt paving machine because Cox volunteered his time to run it. Cox was a longtime Granite employee and is a master of paver operation. "This is very good for both the community and our workers," Mayorga stated.
"It lets CAAW spend its money helping women and assists us in better educating our workers. Skills training is the union's lifeblood," he added.
Union apprenticeship programs are open to men and women. The project would have cost about $40,000 if bid competitively but everything was donated with most of the work done by union apprentices.
The Northern Nevada Laborers-Associated General Contractors Training Fund handled project coordination with the cooperation of the Operating Engineers Joint Apprenticeship Training Committee, Granite Construction Co., Q&D Construction, T.W. Construction, Laborers' Union Local 169, Operating Engineers Local 3 and the Nevada Chapter of the Associated General Contractors.
The project received news coverage on three major
network television affiliates, the Reno Gazette-Journal (twice) and in
the CAAW newsletter. The union was honored with a Hannah
Humanitarian Award for this project on Feb. 29, 2000.
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HANNAH HUMANITARIAN AWARD WINNERS — Left to right, John C. Breternitz, Executive Vice-President of Q&D Construction representing the Associated General Contractors; Tony Mayorga, President, and Dan Rusnak, Business Manager of Laborers' International Union Local 169/AFL-CIO. The Committee to Aid Abused Women's 19th Annual Hannah Humanitarian Award Presentation was held at the Peppermill Hotel-Casino in Reno on February 29, 2000. |
UPDATE:
Laborers' Local 169 Business Manager Dan Rusnak retires
Daily Sparks Tribune 4-29-2001
Northern
Nevada Laborers - Associated General Contractors Training Fund
From the Committee to Aid Abused
Women Hannah Awards Program
Peppermill Hotel-Casino, Reno
2-29-2000
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The Northern Nevada
Laborers - Associated General Contractors Training Fund began in 1968
when Laborers' Union Local 169 negotiated a five cent per hour contribution
for training. In 1976, the program qualified as a trainer under the Federal
Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA). Many people that were
trained with CETA dollars came off the welfare rolls. Some are still working
in the construction industry. In 1995, the State of Nevada approved the
Construction Craft Laborer Apprenticeship Program.
The fund provides
opportunity for men and women to learn to learn lifetime skills that can
enable them to obtain better-paying jobs and financial stability for themselves
and their families.
Perhaps too infrequently, the "everyday" folks whose day-to-day
work affects us all, get recognized for their contributions to our community.
Therefore, it is with special thanks for a job well done that the Committee
to Aid Abused Women presents the Hannah Humanitarian Award to the Northern
Nevada Laborers-Associated General Contractors Training Fund.
HANNAH
KEZIAH CLAPP (1824-1908)
Pioneering
businesswoman, suffragette and university professor
The Hannah Humanitarian
Award is presented by the Committee to Aid Abused Women to honor Nevadans
who have worked for a more humanitarian environment in our state. The
award is named for Hannah Keziah Clapp who was one of the most
influential women in Silver State history.
Hannah was born in New York, became a teacher and came overland by wagon
train to California in 1859. The following year, she took up residence
in Carson City. In 1861, she and Mrs. Ellen Cutler established
a school, the co-educational Sierra Seminary in Carson City. With the
help of Elizabeth Babcock, a fellow teacher, Hannah developed the
institution into one of the finest in the state. Frequently visited by
Mark Twain, the school operated successfully for 25 years.
In 1875, Hannah joined several women's groups in Carson City to organize
a beautification program for the State Capitol. As the lowest bidder,
Hannah was awarded the contract to provide materials for the iron fence
surrounding the capitol building, which was constructed by laborers from
the state prison.
In 1883, Hannah served as a committee clerk in the Nevada State Assembly
and as Senate copying clerk the following legislative session. In 1887,
when what would become the University of Nevada moved its campus to Reno,
Hannah, by then 63, became its first faculty member. She and President
LeRoy Brown were the entire faculty and taught all subjects. Hannah
also served as the university's first librarian, a post she would hold
for 14 years.
An early member of the Twentieth Century Club, Hannah co-founded the state's
first kindergarten in 1902 with backing from club members who insisted
that the Nevada Legislature establish free public kindergarten in Reno
schools.
Hannah actively strived for the advancement of women's rights in Nevada.
She tried numerous times to introduce suffrage legislation and was involved
in nearly every organized women's movement in the state.
Hannah Keziah Clapp
remained an activist until her death on October 8, 1908.
Hannah
Clapp and The Capitol Fence
By Nevada State Archivist Guy Louis Rocha and
journalist Dennis Myers
HANNAH
CLAPP: Educator, Philanthropist, Librarian
By Mary M. Baldasano
Las Vegan Magazine
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In 1998, apprentices of Painters & Allied Trades Local 567 painted the historic Lake Mansion. It was purchased by Myron Lake, founder of Lake's Crossing (on the Truckee River) which became the City of Reno. (Recent scholarly research revealed that Lake probably never lived in the house, but his estranged wife did.)
The building made front page local news in the early 1970s when it was moved in one piece down S. Virginia Street from downtown.
The mansion originally stood at the northwest corner of S. Virginia Street and California Avenue, a few blocks south of the river. A financial institution currently occupies the site across the street from the Ponderosa Hotel.
The Lake Mansion stands today at the corner of S.
Virginia and Kietzke Lane, just off U.S. 395 S. on the grounds of the
Reno-Sparks Convention Center. In 2004, the convention authority discussed
moving it elsewhere in order to expand the facility. Nothing has happened
as of this update on 9-15-2005.
Apprentices who worked on the project included Mo Hursh, Erin Duhr,
Jake Harding, Harry Lorent, Gwen Sicuro, Cecil Monford and Danielle
Dufour.
They were supervised by instructor Mike Lowe.
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