Letter to the Editor: St. Peters Mayor Thanks Volunteers

This holiday season, the sound of people helping people could be heard across the entire St. Louis region from Southwestern Illinois to Wentzville, and beyond to Kansas City, across the entire St. Louis region. That sound was the ringing of bells for the annual Tree of Lights campaign.

Thousands of our friends and neighbors, hard working union members, took a special challenge to help the Salvation Army help people in our communities.  In many cases, those labor union member bell-ringers were themselves unemployed, but they stepped up to the plate to give their time to help others in need.

I’d like to give a special thank you to those who helped in St. Charles County; their dedication helped the Salvation Army reach its $550,000 goal.  The bell-ringers in all these regions from Illinois to Kansas deserve special thanks for helping in their home areas.

This outstanding effort by organized labor started three years ago when the Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 562 first answered my call to help the Salvation Army.  Since then, that list has really grown:

• Insulators and Asbestos Workers Local 1
• Electrical Workers Local 1
• Painters District Council #2
• Sheet Metal Workers Local 36
• Operating Engineers Local 513
• Ironworkers Local 396
• Glaziers, Architectural Metal & Glass Workers Local 513
• Tri-County7 Labor Legislative Club
• Elevator Constructors Local 3
• Plasterers’ Local 3
• Graphic Conference Local 38N-IBT
• Bricklayers Local 1
• Sprinkler Fitters & Apprentices Local 268

 Please join me in saluting all these wonderful men and women who care enough about our communities to take the time to help the Salvation Army help those in need, not just during the holiday season but all year long.

Len Pagano
Mayor of St. Peters