MORE SERVICE TO COMMUNITY

Unions and contractors donate time and equipment to pave parking areas for CAAW

Lake Mansion: Doing well by doing good

Painters Union volunteers renovate historic Comstock Lode site

 


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

LETTING THE RED CROSS SPEND ITS MONEY HELPING GULF COAST HURRICANE VICTIMS

(9-17-2005) — Members of Laborers' Union Local 169 and Operating Engineers Local 3 re-pave the parking lot at the American Red Cross in Reno.

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.

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.


$40,000 PARKING LOT SALE

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.

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.

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

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



DOING WELL BY DOING GOOD

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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