Teamsters Local 455 Retirees Serve as Soldiers' Angels Volunteers
For UPS retirees Tom Swartz, Kenny Crooks and Todd Carson, Soldiers' Angels Fridays start with a trip to the Food Bank of the Rockies, where they load thousands of pounds of food for transport to the Aurora Veterans' Administration Clinic, where the pallets of bread, canned goods and fruits and vegetables will be broken down and parceled into bags and handed to Colorado military veterans who are in need.
Arthur Ashley, 81, who earned a Purple Heart during his first tour as an Army helicopter aviator, is both a volunteer and recipient, who dons his blue nitrile gloves to safely package and distribute between 60 and 70 pounds of food to each veteran. He's joined by another veteran volunteer, Mark Howard, a Navy vet, who wants to encourage young people to join in the effort, to serve as "runners" between the tables of necessities.
Swartz, Crooks and Carson make the trip once each month in Teamsters Local 455's box truck. They unload, then return the empty pallets to the truck. Swartz is himself an Army vet, serving from 1976-80 and based in Fort Hood, Texas, where he learned to loathe humidity. The Teamsters retirees, most days, are part of a team of about 70 volunteers who make the Soldiers' Angels events successful.
"I am a veteran and I just decided this should be a Teamster thing" Swartz says. "We had this one Vietnam veteran, and he came up to me and he was shaking my hand and I thought, these guys were in Vietnam. They came out of there with nothing and they're just so grateful that they get fed. That stayed with me a while."
Teamsters have a long and storied history with the US military. In 1914, at the outset of World War I, Teamsters moved troops and supplies and trained soldiers how to drive trucks. As World War II erupted, 125,000 Teamsters joined the Allied Forces. Teamsters have served in every conflict since. Union halls routinely acknowledge their members with military service at membership meetings and events across the country.
For Dean Modecker, Teamsters Local 455 Secretary-Treasurer, pairing skilled Teamster drivers and warehousemen with Soldiers' Angels, a non-profit that provides aid, comfort and resources to military members past and present, is part of the Union's commitment to the community and a way to show respect to union members who have served themselves.
Said Modecker: "While the military protects us outside our country, we will do whatever it takes to protect them when they get back."