The New Jersey State AFL-CIO’s Union Veterans Council and the Southern New Jersey Central Labor Council held a Heroes Celebration at the New Jersey Veterans Home at Vineland on Wednesday, June 10, 2020, to thank and honor the frontline union brothers and sisters on staff at the home, to thank the home’s administrators, and to humbly thank and praise the armed forces veterans living at the home.
The Union Veterans Council members had no sabers to form an arch, but the Vineland Veterans Home staff walked between lines of cheering union brothers and sisters the way military heroes returning from a battlefield victory would do.
Heroes Celebration in Vineland
The union brothers and sisters in the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the Communications Workers of America, and the International Federation of Professional & Technical Engineers have been tirelessly battling the COVID-19 pandemic at New Jersey’s longest-serving veterans home. Their war against this deadly disease is truly a case of heroes caring for heroes. This was truly a cause for thanks and celebration.
The Union Veterans Council presented the staff with lunches, picnic-style, which were donated by the UVC and the New Jersey State AFL-CIO and its affiliated unions. Union-made baked goods and other snacks for the resident veterans, donated by the Bakery Confectionery Tobacco and Grain Millers International Union, were presented by Charles Wowkanech, president of the New Jersey State AFL-CIO, on behalf of Joyce Alston, president of BCTGM Local 53.
The New Jersey State AFL-CIO Union Veterans Council’s membership includes union brothers and sisters from every sector of labor who served in all branches of America’s armed forces. The UVC members personally thanked each staff member for their dedication and care for the resident veterans. The Council’s members agreed that it was their honor to serve the caregivers for our veterans who served our country under the American flag, and their own morale was boosted by the news that this visit brought huge smiles to veterans and caregivers alike.
With the trip to the Veterans Home at Vineland, the New Jersey State AFL-CIO and our Union Veterans Council completed their mission of visiting all three New Jersey state veterans homes to thank and honor their staffs and residents.