News – AT&T Pioneers

Everglades LMC Receives Volunteer Award

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Congratulations to the Everglades Life Member Club for receiving the 2014 Volunteer Recognition Award from the Chapman Partnership.

Since 1995, The Chapman Partnership for the Homeless in Miami has been assisting homeless men, women, and children in transitioning off the streets of Miami-Dade County and on their way to attaining greater stability and self-sufficiency in their lives. The Everglades Life Member Club has provided school supplies, food and clothing for the clients at the center along with serving meals and volunteering for other duties and functions.

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Pioneers Partner With Company and Florida DCF for Skills to Go

Network Manager Sandy Thomas walks up to each student, looks them square in the eye, then shakes their hand. While shaking, she gives the students a verbal assessment of the hand shake. A good, firm handshake is essential, she tells the students sitting around the room. That was just one of several lessons Thomas, along with several other AT&T Pioneers, taught the dozen or so students sitting in the room.

Since October of 2013, AT&T Florida Pioneers, along with AT&T External Affairs and the Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF) have been bringing AT&T Aspire Skills to Go to high school students in Florida’s foster care system. In addition to high school students, there have also been a number of young adults ranging from 18 to 21 years old. Under a recent Florida law, young adults who would have normally aged out of the Florida foster care system have been allowed to remain in the system until reaching 21 years of age.

The AT&T Aspire Skills to Go program is a facet of the AT&T Aspire Mentoring Academy. Skills to Go includes learning modules that cover Decision Making, Financial Literacy, Communications Skills and Career Planning. The topics included in the modules range from “Making Decisions that Work” to Budgeting and writing resumes.

Each day begins in a classroom setting, where students participate in the lessons, watch “Cool Job” videos provided by AT&T, eat lunch, then venture out to an AT&T location for some real life experiences.

The Palm Beach Mixed Club trialed the program in West Palm Beach. They worked with AT&T Mobility employees to bring the students to a local store. There they were greeted by Director of Sales Karl Blanco and Retail Sales Manager Michael Chung. After a short talk by Director Blanco, students went through mock interviews with Chung.

Florida Pioneers Area Vice President Denise Caruso, who coordinated the event for the Palm Bach Council, says, “It was a wonderful experience and I was impressed with the kids and their involvement with wanting to learn real-life lessons.“

With the success of the Palm Beach trial, the Florida Pioneers expanded the program throughout the state. They have held a Skills to Go event in Plantation, with the Broward Council; in Tallahassee and in Tampa with the Tampa Mixed Club.

The chapter, along with External Affairs and DCF, plan on continuing to offer the program to students throughout the state.

H.O.M.E. – Helping Our Military Everyday

What can we do? How can we help? What are we doing to support our Troops?

Those were the questions Pioneers in Wisconsin were asking when we sent our troops to war in Iraq in 2003. Many people wanted to do something – ANYTHING – to help show that they cared. After a few conversations between Jeannette St Onge and Karen Schilling, our care package project was born.

It started out small and simple. A Company email was sent out to all Pioneers in WI, telling them that we would begin to send care packages to friends and family members who were deployed to Iraq. We came up with a list of supplies that we were told were needed or wanted. We asked people to send us the mailing information if they wanted to put someone on the list to receive a Pioneer care package. Our Pioneer Building Reps set out collection boxes, posted the list of supplies that we would like to ship, and the project was under way.

Once a month, a group of Pioneers would meet in Milwaukee on a Saturday to sort the supplies, pack the care packages, and mail them out. We averaged about 12 – 15 boxes a month. The first Christmas, four Pioneers met in a conference room in Madison and wrapped the donations in Christmas paper, added some Christmas cards, and packed special Christmas care packages. That year, we sent 14 boxes out for Christmas. Later the project was shifted to Madison and we began the daily mailings. We sent one package a day, Monday through Friday.

My, how we have grown! Karen retired four years ago and moved the project home to her basement. We now send two care packages a day, six days a week. Twelve different deployed personnel in Iraq and now also Afghanistan get Pioneer care packages every week. On December 5, 2009, we mailed 144 special Christmas boxes! Quite an increase in numbers, isn’t it!! As of 02/22/10, we have mailed 4,870 care packages to 1,192 different people (although some have been on our list two or three times!). This project continues to succeed due to the tremendous support it gets from Pioneers across the U.S. along with friends and family who are generous with their donations of supplies and dollars. Many fundraisers in various locations raise money to help pay for the shipping of all these care packages.

The project evolved to also include sending birthday cards to those who are spending their special day so far from family and friends. To date, more than 9,992 birthday cards have been mailed to our heroes so far from home. Nothing like getting over 30 pieces of mail over a week or so to make them feel loved and remembered! And that is just from the Pioneers and friends – it doesn’t count what they get from their families.

The project that started as Adopt a Soldier, then became Helping Our Troops, and is now H.O.M.E. – Helping Our Military Everyday – continues to be a wonderful, caring project that touches many hearts, not only those who received our care packages, but the hearts of each and every person who continues to make this such a successful project. Pioneers care.

Florida AT&T Pioneers on FACEBOOK

AT&T Pioneers on FACEBOOK

Do you have a Facebook page???

Well, we do and it is growing by leaps and bounds.

Our page , AT&T Pioneers Florida Chapter 39 needs you!

Join the page and get in on the fun. Look for updates on activities, projects and some great stories on the wonderful work we do.

Spread the word to all Florida Pioneers.