Members have responded to the fundraising drive but more is needed

In an impressive show of support for their union brothers and sisters in the Gulf Coast region, AFT members from Vermont to Florida and New York to New Mexico are contributing generously to the national union’s disaster relief fund.

“We’ve been extremely pleased by the response we’ve gotten thus far. However, more money needs to be raised in order to meet the needs of members in the Gulf Coast, many of whom lost their jobs as well as most of their possessions,” says AFT vice president Herb Magidson, who is chairing the fundraising effort.

In October, the AFT executive council passed a resolution calling on the national union to undertake an unprecedented fundraising program through the AFT Disaster Relief Fund to help the thousands of AFT members devastated by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. It asked every state federation to participate in the campaign by meeting minimum fundraising goals based on their membership.

“The top priority of this relief effort is to help people rebuild their lives, their schools and their community at large,” AFT president Edward J. McElroy says. More than 7,000 members in the Gulf Coast region have applied for the $500 grants being provided by the AFT.

The national AFT has committed dedicating no less than $1 million of AFT funds for the relief effort, and the New York State United Teachers has pledged to raise at least another $1 million. Affiliates outside of New York, combined, have been asked to raise another $1 million.

Affiliates large and small have led the way by contributing funds and mounting fundraising drives among their members. At press time, several AFT federations have exceeded their minimum goals, including those in Alaska, Arizona, Massachusetts, North Carolina and Rhode Island, as well as the Indian Educators Federation and the Overseas Federation of Teachers. And AFT state affiliates in Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Maine, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Vermont, the Virgin Islands and West Virginia are well on their way toward reaching their goals.

In addition, the AFT staff has donated more than $30,000 to the disaster relief fund, and unions outside the U.S., such as the Elementary Teachers of Toronto, have made contributions.

The AFT recently provided state affiliates with tool kits designed to help locals in each state become even more engaged in the fundraising drive.