IAM Local 850’s Women’s Committee, along with IAM Local 2909, recently partnered with Upward Transitions, an Oklahoma City nonprofit, for an outreach event as part of the charity’s 100-year celebration.
Local 850 offered to host the “Gears and Shears” event at their union hall, where volunteers provided free haircuts, hygiene care kits, and a cookout-style meal to local people in need.
“We got the word out by handing out our flyer at the local shelters, a day shelter and a night shelter, and it was posted on their notification screens,” said IAM Local 850 Secretary-Treasurer Alana Kirkpatrick. “We hand-billed residents of a low-income, public housing apartment complex just down the road from the union hall and walked through camps of unhoused people around the city to encourage people to come.”
IAM Local 850 Women’s Committee Chair Tamara Wood formerly worked at Upward Transitions and introduced the idea of a partnership to the local.
“We will be making this an annual event,” said Wood. “We recruited volunteer barbers, and next time we’ll have twice as many. We merged our locals’ Women’s Committees, we meet together a lot, and we put in a lot of hard work to make this first event happen.”
“Our Women’s Committee has really stepped up to aid our community,” said IAM Local 850 President Larry Solomon. “This was a huge success. All credit goes to the Women’s Committee, and I can definitely see our Local doing more community service like this in the future.”
“It’s just really great here in Oklahoma City because we all gather together. We’re not separate local unions, we are all one union fighting for the same cause, and we work really well together in getting things done,” said IAM Local 2909 President Jaime Myers, who led her local to participate in the project.
“We are also planning a Labor Day event, a bowling tournament, and a Guide Dogs of America | Tender Loving Canines fundraiser,” said Myers. “It has been amazing working together; they give me so much inspiration and hope doing this together. That’s what I love about our unions.”
Oklahoma AFL-CIO Political Director Isabella Rodriguez helped enormously to coordinate the event. The Oklahoma AFL-CIO donated most of the food and drinks, Local 2909 donated condiments, and Oklahoma AFL-CIO President Jimmy Curry manned the grill.
IAM Local 850 member James Taylor, who owns a barbering business in addition to working at Tinker Air Force Base, was one of the four volunteer barbers/hair stylists.
Dozens of community members came to be treated to a fresh cut, hot plates, and cold drinks in the shade. The locals thought of everything, including making baby pools and pet supplies available for those who brought their pets, a special consideration on the 92-degree day.
“I’m incredibly proud of these locals for working together to do something very generous for their shared community in Oklahoma City,” said IAM District 171 Directing Business Representative Ben Moody, who comes from Local 850 and attended to support and help wherever needed. “I imagine next year’s event will be even more successful now that they’ve done their first.”
“‘Service to the community’ is in our union’s motto for a reason and these locals are really exemplifying it,” said IAM Air Transport Territory General Vice President Ritchie Johnsen. “Communities trust local unions, their fellow working people and neighbors, when they need help and our union members always step up for their communities.”
“Aviation and aerospace is the largest industry in the Oklahoma City region, employing thousands of IAM members like those of Local 850 at Tinker Air Force Base,” said IAM Southern Territory General Vice President Craig Martin. “These members and their family-supporting, union jobs are vital to the local economy and lift up the surrounding area. I could not be more proud than to see these members engage with their community members who have fallen on hard times and do what they can to help.”
The event saw somewhere between 120 and 150 community members and all food and hygiene kits were distributed before haircuts were finished.
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