Machinists honored by White House to hear Obama

Posted by iam751admin on February 17, 2012 · 25 Comments 

EVERETT — Five Machinists Union members who are being honored by the White House for their outstanding community service will attend President Obama’s speech at Boeing’s Everett factory Friday.

Braun, Curran, Louie, Murphy and Lindberg at Tacoma Rescue Mission

All five are members of IAM District Lodge 751’s Machinists Volunteer Program who gave more than 500 hours of volunteer time in 2011. That led to them receiving gold-level President’s Volunteer Service Awards, which is the top award given by the President’s Council on Service and Civic Participation.

The Machinists attending the speech are:

• George Braun of SeaTac;
• Rob Curran of Graham;
• Chris Louie of Edmonds;
• Tom Lindberg of Buckley; and
• Vennie Murphy of Puyallup.

Curran and Murphy are Machinists Union members working at Boeing, while Louie works for IAM/Boeing Joint Programs. Braun and Lindberg are retired union members.

The President’s Council on Service and Civic Participation grants the awards each year. Machinists Union District Lodge 751 is affiliated with the council as a certifying organization.

As a group last year, District 751’s MVPs donated more than 10,000 hours, which means the union itself is a gold-level presidential award-winning organization.

The union members volunteered in support of groups like Guide Dogs of America, Northwest Harvest and the Salvation Army. They also volunteered regularly in the kitchens of homeless shelters in Everett and Tacoma, and built seven wheelchair ramps for homebound people around Puget Sound.

District 751 President Tom Wroblewski praised the all the union MVPs for their volunteer work in 2011, and singled out the five gold-level award winners in particular.

“Our union has two missions: to make our companies better places to work, and make our communities better places to live,” he said. “These five Machinists have gone above and beyond in their efforts to build better communities here in our corner of America.”

Originally formed in 1935 to represent hourly workers at the Boeing Co., District Lodge 751 of the International Association of Machinists & Aerospace Workers now represents more than 31,000 working men and women at 45 employers across Washington, Oregon and California. As part of their community service, members of the Machinists Volunteer Program gave more than 10,000 hours of their own time to volunteer work in 2011, while also raising more than $263,000 for Guide Dogs of America, the union’s charity of choice.

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Filed under Community Service, District 751 news · Tagged with Machinists Union District Lodge 751, Machinists Volunteer Program, Obama visit to Boeing, President's Council on Service and Civic Participation, President's Volunteer Service Award