UFCW to host ‘delete blood cancer’
drive at Labor Day picnic at Oaks Park
One person is diagnosed with blood
cancer every four minutes.
Thousands of patients with
leukemia and other life-threatening dis-
eases depend on finding matching
donors who can save their lives. Pa-
tients need donors who are a close ge-
netic match. But even with a registry of
millions, six out of 10 patients never re-
ceive the lifesaving transplant they
need.
This Labor Day at Oaks Park, union
members and their families could be
the one to give a blood cancer patient a
second chance at life by registering to
be a bone marrow donor.
The Northwest Oregon Labor Coun-
cil and United Food and Commercial
Workers Local 555 are partnering with
Delete Blood Cancer (DKMS) to host
the donor registration drive. DKMS is a
501(c)(3) organization founded to es-
tablish a worldwide donor registry.
“We have the potential to set the
record for the most donor registrations
in a single day,” said Dan Clay, presi-
dent of Local 555, who is spearheading
the drive.
The picnic typically attracts 18,000
people. The goal is to register 1,800
donors.
Potential donors must be between
the ages of 18 and 55, weigh more than
110 pounds, be in good general health,
and commit to donate peripheral blood
stem cells or bone marrow if found to
be a match.
Registering is as easy as filling out a
form and swabbing the inside of your
cheeks to collect cells for tissue typing.
The entire process should take less than
10 minutes.
“Statistically, we have a real poten-
tial to save six lives in the next year
based on what we do on Labor Day
(Sept. 2),” Clay said. “A one-day drive
can save six lives this year, and more
lives next year. It’s a huge opportunity
to do good.”
Swab stations will be set up at two
locations at Oaks Park from 10 a.m. to
5 p.m.
For more details on bone marrow
donation, go on line to deleteblood-
cancer.org.
(Editor’s Note: Donor registration
typically costs around $100. However,
Delete Blood Cancer is picking up the
entire cost of this registration.)
Scavenger hunt planned at Oaks Park
Plans are in the works for a scav-
enger hunt for youngsters at this year’s
Labor Day picnic at Oaks Park.
The goal is to get 23 union locals to
participate (so far 10 unions have signed
up). The scavenger hunt will entail us-
ing clues found in a “passport” to find
various unions represented at the picnic.
For example, a clue might be: “We are
the union who delivers your mail.” The
answer is: the National Association of
Letter Carriers (NALC). Participants
must find the NALC picnic site (look
for bunches of balloons) and have their
passports stamped there.
Youngsters can pick up passports at
Labor’s Community Service Agency’s
(LCSA) booth at the picnic. Once they
obtain the required number of stamps
(still undetermined), they will return
their passport to the LCSA booth,
where they will be eligible for a draw-
ing to win a bicycle or $50 gift card, de-
pending on their age.
All participants will receive a prize.
Age groups are 0-4 years; 5-7 years;
8-10 years; 11-12 years; 13-14 years;
15-16 years; and 17-18 years.
Prizes have been donated by the In-
ternational Longshore and Warehouse
Union, the Oregon School Employees
Association, Labor’s Community Serv-
ice Agency, Franz Bakery, and Bakers
Local 114.
The scavenger hunt starts at 10 a.m.
and ends at 3 p.m., with the announce-
ment of winners of the drawings.
“It’s a fun way to educate youngsters
— and their parents — about what it is
union members do,” said Jeff Klatke,
president of Oregon AFSCME Council
75 and chair of the children’s game
planning committee for the Northwest
Oregon Labor Council.
For more information, or to include
your union local in the scavenger hunt,
call Klatke at 503-704-1665.
Building Trades Academy comes to Portland
The Building Trades Academy of the national Building and Construction
Trades Department, AFL-CIO, was in Portland July 22-26 for a week-long
education program on organizing and membership development. In the photo
above, Tom Kriger (standing), director of research for the BCTD, reviews
notes with Todd Templeton of Plumbers and Fitters Local 290 in Tualatin,
and Jeff Washburn and Wayne Elliott of Plumbers at Fitters Local 26 out of
Olympia, Wash. Thirty-one union organizers and/or business managers from
a half-dozen construction crafts attended classes held at the IBEW Local 48
union hall in Northeast Portland. Some attendees came from as far as
Wisconsin and Alabama. A series of courses geared toward education and
training for union leaders and members in the construction industry are
offered at the National Labor College in Silver Spring, Maryland. This year,
the BCTD Executive Board decided to take the Academy on the road, making
Portland the first stop on the West Coast. Kriger said courses are interactive
and include small-group exercises centered on realistic case studies. The
Building Trades Academy offers courses in organizational development,
negotiating, teaching techniques, and labor law in the construction industry.
Kriger, a former provost at the National Labor College, said the BCTD
partners with Michigan State University’s School of Human Resources and
Labor Relations for curriculum development.
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AUGUST 2, 2013