WORCESTER, Mass. – A group of AFSCME members recently received an award for their years of community service from one of the nation's oldest and most respected charitable organizations.

SUMMUP, a statewide caucus of 19 AFSCME Council 93 locals that provide human services, won the United Way of Central Massachusetts's Labor Services Community Hero Award for annual donations of clothing, toys, food and more to working families and children in need. SUMMUP President Frank Minton accepted the award at a May 4 celebration in Worcester.

"AFSCME members in SUMMUP work quietly behind the scenes to care for some of the most vulnerable members of society," Council 93 Executive Director Frank Moroney said. "Few people know how hard they work in their jobs and even fewer are aware of the work they do in the community. It is encouraging to see organizations like the United Way taking the time to acknowledge this important volunteer work."

Frank Minton receives the award on May 4. (Council 93 File Photo)

Donations to local families in need have been an essential part of SUMMUP's mission since the organization was founded in 1955. In addition to regular service and donations, group members run a food drive and gather non-perishable food items for donation every November. The group follows this with a winter holiday toy drive for children in December, during which delegates of the AFSCME locals who make up the group donate new and unwrapped toys.

Food items and toys are made into baskets, and the Central Massachusetts Labor Council of the AFL-CIO distributes these baskets to needy union members and their families.

SUMMUP, which stands for the State Unification of Massachusetts Mental Health Union Policies, is an organization that creates "a much stronger union" by educating leaders of AFSCME locals that represent public service workers in the state departments of Public Health, Mental Health, Developmental Services and Youth Services, according to SUMMUP Recording Secretary Nancy Silva, who also serves as Council 93's recording secretary.

"SUMMUP's mission is to train and educate local union officers so they may better serve their members," Minton said.

Building a thriving community requires strong leadership, and SUMMUP has helped lead the way in Massachusetts for many years through both its charitable service to the community and its training and education for the public service workers who take care of children and family members who urgently need public health care services.

The group's long tradition of charitable giving extends beyond their food and toy drives. SUMMUP members regularly collect items and send them to our troops serving overseas, Silva said. This January, they began sending cards to the troops as well. Members also donate to and participate in the annual Council 93 Memorial Scholarship Golf Tournaments.
"We will continue to donate to charities for the underprivileged," Silva added. "It is always rewarding to help our brothers and sisters who are facing difficult times."

SUMMUP and its members will never quit supporting their local communities and will always make sure the public service workers who keep our kids healthy and safe have the good working conditions and fair wages they deserve for the incredibly difficult work they do.