Bricklayers Local 1, Tile Setters 18 help feed community with successful food drive

In yet another of their many community support efforts, Bricklayers Local 1 and Tile, Marble & Terrazzo Setters Local 18 collected 1,673 pounds of food and $1,720 in donations for the St. Louis Area Food Bank at their April 23 food drive, reports Brian Jennewein, director, Bricklayers Administrative District Council of Eastern Missouri and Local 1 business manager.

The combined donations will provide 8,246 meals to families in need, Food Bank Donation Coordinator Jordan Brennan says.

The drive was held in conjunction with KSHE-95 Rock Radio’s shock jock Lern’s afternoon program from 2-6 p.m. Throughout her show, she encouraged listeners to come to Maggie O’Brien’s at 2000 Market Street (where Local 1 has offices upstairs) and make a food or cash donation.

“We felt it important to do our part of help feed families in this time when so many are out of work across our community,” Jennewein said.

INNOVATIVE OUTREACH
Locals 1 and 18 had just completed an innovative three-week advertising campaign on KSHE to encourage young people to consider the Bricklayers and Tile Setters apprenticeship programs as an incredible life-long career path. The effort resulted in almost 200 responses, Jennewein said.

The effort was part of KSHE’s Food Bank Fridays in April. IBEW Local 1 previously participated in the effort.

“Because of the COVID-19 crisis, we can’t do our normal recruiting efforts at job fairs, so we felt this ad campaign was a great alternative,” Jennewein said. “KSHE was very helpful in our fight against the phony ‘right-to-work’ campaign in 2018 so it was the perfect way to reach out to young people looking for a great career in construction.”