CLEVELAND, December 22 — For the sixth year in a row, the members of BLET Division 34 in Columbus, Ohio, are getting into the holiday spirit by helping those less fortunate through their Adopt-A-Family program.
The good Brothers and Sisters of Division 34 are adopting four families this year and helping a total of 11 children have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
“We didn’t have the heart to say no to anyone,” said Jeff Murray, President and Legislative Representative of Division 34. “In the six years we’ve been doing the Adopt-A-Family program we’ve never had to turn anyone away.”
Since 2005, the members of Division 34 have been able to give 40 children the joy of finding presents under their tree on Christmas morning.
Throughout the year, members of the Division and workers in other crafts in their terminal nominate needy families. The Division selects a worthy family or families and donates toys, clothes and necessities to the family at Christmas. This year, members of the Division voted to adopt the Millers, the Pyles, the Shuttleworths and the Burtons.
Brother Murray said that in addition to helping families in need, the program is having a positive side effect on Division 34’s membership — bringing them closer together with their own families.
“We’re the kind of Division that doesn’t want to know just our members,” he said. “We want to know their families, too.”
For example, the manager of a local Holiday Inn — a former Conrail employee — has donated use of a large meeting room so that BLET members, their spouses and families can enjoy a wrapping party to prepare all gifts for distribution.
“We collect a wish list from the children of the families we adopt,” Brother Murray said. “The clerks set up a Christmas tree at the yard office with wish list items from the kids hanging from the tree. Everyone buys them toys and clothes from their wish lists.”
Each item from each child’s wish list is printed onto a decorative snowman-shaped card, crafted by the yard office clerks. The snowmen are then hung on Christmas trees in the yard office where BLET members, workers from other crafts, BLET and UTU members from other terminals who are passing through Columbus, and sometimes representatives from management, anonymously take snowmen from the tree. He said local clerks and members of the UTU often get into the holiday spirit and generously support the BLET by donating gifts to the adopted families. He estimates that approximately 150 snowmen were on the tree this year.
Brother Murray said any monetary contributions that remain after the wish lists have been fulfilled are put onto pre-paid credit cards, which are divided equally among the families.
“We try to fulfill every wish and then some,” he said. “Every penny that comes in goes out.”
Families can use that money to buy food, pay bills or rent, or to buy additional special gifts for the children.
In 2006, one family used the donations to pay heating bills and to pay rent for their apartment, saving them from eviction.
Brother Murray said support for the program is growing, thanks in part to the generosity of others. He thanked all rail workers for their help and generosity, as well as the BLET National Division, the CSX-Northern Lines General Committee of Adjustment, and various Designated Legal Counsel firms.
“We hope this continues for a long time,” he said.
BLET National President Dennis Pierce thanked the members of BLET Division 34 for their generosity, as well as all others who participated in the Adopt-A-Family program.
“I thank them for their kindness and generosity to those who are in need during this holiday season,” Pierce said.