Local S8 reaches out to community

Members participate in food drive, fund-raisers

Local S8 and the Big Ridge Co. donate $15,000 to the Share Your Blessings Program: l. to r., Rickie Phillips, Marzel Scates, Nicki Bishop, Katie Gulick, and Terry Ward of Big Ridge, and L-S8 Pres. Greg Fort and steward Tony Young.

Local S8 and the Big Ridge Co. donate $15,000 to the Shop With a Cop Program: l. to r., front row, Todd Cavender and Nathan Moore of the Harrisburg Police Officers Assoc. Local 152, and L-S8 steward Tony Young; back row, Rickie Phillips and Terry Ward of the Big Ridge Co., and L-S8 Pres. Greg Fort.

MEMBERS OF LOCAL S8 (Equality, Ill.) spent their Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays helping others.

They held a Thanksgiving food drive, organized by steward Tony Young. Members donated canned goods, potatoes, sugar, flour, stuffing, and all the supplies a family would need to prepare a Thanksgiving meal. Local S8 donated an additional $300 to buy canned goods, and the Big Ridge Company, a Local S8 employer, provided turkeys and bread. In all, the members prepared 54 food baskets for distribution by area churches and WADI, a local food pantry. They also donated another five truckloads of canned goods to WADI.

For Christmas, they continued the spirit of giving by participating in two local programs: Share Your Blessings and Shop with a Cop. Many Local S8 members elected to have $25 withheld from their checks for these programs. The Big Ridge Company matched the amount raised by its employees, and Local S8 donated $1,500. Together they raised $15,000 for each of the programs.