Members of AFSCME Local 1029, representing Enfield town employees, donated $150 to support an ongoing community backpack drive that provides local students with the supplies they need for learning.
The backpack drive is a collaboration between the Northeast Central Chamber of Commerce and Horizon Escapes, a travel agency that has sponsored charitable donations to help children not only in greater Enfield, but also in Mexico, Haiti and elsewhere.
Local 1029 member and town dispatcher Ken Maltese brought the idea of supporting the backpack drive to his local union.
“The last [18] months have been trying,” Maltese said, referring to the COVID-19 pandemic. “That was my whole thought process for getting this started. When my kids were little we didn’t have a pandemic but they still struggled. I couldn’t image what other people were going through during these past 15 months with school coming up and thinking, ‘Oh my god I have to spend hundreds of dollars on school supplies and clothes and everything else.’ It’s not much but it will help them.”
The Local 1029 donation helped purchase more than 100 backpacks for Enfield students. The packs included pencils, pens, a ruler, white-lined paper pads and a spiral binder. The North Central Connecticut Chamber of Commerce served as the location to support the drive and will be where the backpacks are dispersed to local kids.
“It feels good knowing that we can help all of these kids and families that each have their story during this tough time,” said Mona Deane, owner of Horizon Escapes.
Doug Finger, Department of Public Works crew leader and immediate past president of the union, said Local 1029 has a proud history of civic and charitable engagement.
“We’ve always been part of the community,” he noted. “We’ve always helped out with buying backpacks and school supplies in the years past. We also do the Enfield food shelf, soup kitchen, and we’ve donated to safe graduation for Fermi and Enfield High. We’ve done a lot of volunteering with helping out Boys Scouts and Girl Scouts when they want to do things like putting gardens, trees, or benches on town property. It’s something we do for the community because we are the community and the Town of Enfield.”
Local 1029 represents 145 public service workers in Enfield, including public works employees, librarians, dispatchers, school custodians and others.
Pictured, l-r, are Local 1029 President Felix Ruiz, Local 1029 members Doug Finger, Ken Maltese and Jim O’Neil, and Mona Deane, owner of Horizon Escapes. Not pictured is Karen Campbell, Director of Operations for the North Central Connecticut Chamber of Commerce.
