Cairo Association of Teachers - Newsletter

CAT Tracks for December 2, 2006 TURNING BAD NEWS INTO GOOD

From the IEA website...

IEA Donates Food for 1,600 to St. Johns Breadline

December 2, 2006 – Springfield, IL

Officials of one of the state’s largest unions, saddened when weather forced cancellation of a major conference in Springfield, have turned their bad luck into a major donation to a local charity.

The Illinois Education Association (IEA) on Saturday donated more than $30,000 worth of food to the St. Johns Breadline, which provides hot meals to more than 600 Springfield-area residents each day.

Patrons of the charity will enjoy the pork tenderloin, chicken tortellini and other fare originally purchased for the IEA Winter Advocacy Conference, a two-day event held in Springfield each year. The worst winter storm in many years forced cancellation of the event which had been scheduled to begin Friday, leaving IEA with food to feed 800 people for two days and no one to eat it.

“We are thrilled to be able to make this donation to the St. Johns Breadline, an organization that helps hundreds of needy people every day of the year,” said IEA Secretary -Treasurer Cinda Klickna.

“IEA members are committed to serving our students and our communities. We see this donation as an extension of that commitment,” she said.

The Illinois Education Association is the largest education employees’ organization in Illinois with more than 125,000 members, including elementary and secondary teachers, higher education faculty and staff, educational support professionals, retired educators and college students preparing to become teachers.