St. Louis Emerging Labor Leaders raise $1,012 for Crisis Nursery

St. Louis Emerging Labor Leaders (ST-ELL), a group of young and newer union members working to educate, empower  and mobilize the next generation of labor leaders, kicked their way onto the scene recently with a Kickstart to School kickball tournament at Wilmore Park, raising $1,012 for the St. Louis Crisis Nursery.

“I want to say ‘thank you’ to everybody who donated, and everybody who sent a team,” ST-ELL President Gordon Smith, a member of CWA Local 6300, told delegates at the St. Louis Labor Council meeting last week. “It was an excellent experience for everyone involved.”

With the money raised ST-ELL was able to provide the Crisis Nursery with a variety of school supplies and other items including glue sticks, erasers, markers, memo pads, rulers, socks, folders, composition books, backpacks, scissors, and notebooks.

The St. Louis Crisis Nursery works to prevent child abuse and neglect and provides emergency intervention, respite care and support to families in crisis.

“This was our first event of the year, and we are not going to stop,” Smith told Council delegates before presenting Council President Bob Soutier with a tournament T-shirt and a card “signed” with the handprints of children served by the Crisis Nursery.

The Labor Council helped sponsor the event, as did the Missouri AFL-CIO and others.

“You young, emerging labor leaders are our future,” Soutier told Smith.

ST-ELL has a Facebook page at facebook.com/pages/St-Louis-Emerging-Labor-Leaders.

For more information, email: stlabor314@gmail.com, or you can contact Smith directly at 314-593-5513 or email at gsmith@cwa6300.org.