IBEW Local 1379 (Davenport IA) and other ALCOA employees "fix up" the Holidays

Alcoa employees donate food boxes to families

By Mary Louise Speer

Almost 500 families in modest circumstances are opening their doors today and finding all the fixings for festive holiday meals thanks to employees of Alcoa Davenport Works.

Employees and their families packed the food boxes for the Alcoa Employees Christmas Basket campaign Wednesday night.

Many make the distribution a regular part of their holidays. John White, an electrician and safety trainer, never will forget what his daughter told him while delivering baskets several years ago.

"We did this when my daughter was four or five," he said. "We went to a house in the country. It looked more like a shack. When we got back in the car, my daughter commented, ˜Daddy, those people really needed it.""

White, also a member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1379, has been helping with the basket deliveries for most of his 20 years with the company. He can recall times of hearing recipients cry when getting a box of food.

Probably the time that touched him most was when he drove up in front of an expensive-looking house. Obviously the owners were doing all right so why were they delivering a basket there, he wondered. His perceptions quickly changed. He learned that the family had lost their breadwinner in a tragedy and were being forced to sell the house.

The Christmas baskets are an Alcoa tradition going back to 1950, said John Riches, spokesman for Alcoa.

"When this program started, it was one employee helping another employee who was off because of illness. Basically, it's a program where employees turn in names of people in need," he said.

A committee of salaried and hourly employees winnows through the list of nominees and prioritizes the needs. This year workers raised almost $13,000 through recycling aluminum cans, individual contributions and company fundraisers. The money purchased enough hams, potatoes, fresh fruit and more to give 480 families good meals during the holiday season.

Volunteers circled the room carrying the boxes while others stuffed in cans and bags of fruit. The process works very well, Riches said. The boxes were filled in about a half-hour.

Kane Zemo, 3, helped his parents, Anne and Anthony Zemo of Riverdale, Iowa, with distributing packages of margarine. People bent over so he could slide the packages in easily.

"You did a great job," praised Anne Zemo who is an Alcoa employee.

"Years ago my family received a basket. That's the reason why we're here," Anthony Zemo said.

Travis Greve, 13, and Brandon Greve, 15, of Donahue, and members of Boy Scout Troop 203 from Long Grove, were part of the long line circling around the distribution center. This is their third or fourth year of helping their father, an Alcoa employee.

"This is something we can do as community service," Travis said.

"The best part is probably the people you give the boxes to. They're really happy," Brandon added.


The city desk can be contacted at (563) 383-2245 or newsroom@qctimes.com.