PAGE 14 | August 18, 2017 | NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
HAPPENINGS
Resurrected Unions for Kids to
host poker tournament Oct. 7
Mark your calendars for Satur-
day, Oct. 7, when the non-profit
Unions for Kids hosts a Texas
Hold’em poker tournament. The
event will be held at the IBEW
Local 48 hall in Northeast Port-
land. Proceeds will go to Doern-
becher Children’s Hospital and
Labor’s Community Service
Agency.
Unions for Kids was formed
in 2003 by IBEW Local 48
members Lee and Kathy Dun-
can, Jerry Bruce, and Luigi Se-
rio. With a 16-person volunteer
board of directors from various
unions, U4K operated an annual
motorcycle poker run.
In 2005, it started a raffle for
a new Harley Davison motorcy-
cle. Selling a limited number of
tickets, the winner was drawn at
the end of the poker run. Over a
12-year period, the organization
donated $465,000 to Doern-
becher.
When the Duncans retired in
2014, the motorcycle poker run
was discontinued, though
Unions for Kids maintained its
non-profit status. Earlier this
year, Joe Harris, a union rep for
Sheet Metal Workers Local 16,
agreed to assume the reins as
president. Former U4K treas-
urer Rob Williamson — re-
cently retired from IBEW and
United Workers Federal Credit
Union — stepped in as vice
president; Emmy Keever, a sec-
retary at Local 16 and member
of Office and Professional Em-
ployees Local 11, took over as
treasurer, and Brooke Robin-
son-Hoffmann came in as the
secretary.
The resurrected Unions for
Kids is starting out with a Texas
Hold’em poker tournament, but
who knows where it will lead?
The U4K website says it wel-
comes any and all ideas on ways
to raise money for Doernbecher
and LCSA.
For more information about
the poker tournament, go to
unionsforkids.org, or contact
Harris at jharris@smw16.org;
Keever at ekeever@smw16.org,
or call 503-254-0123.