April 7, 2017 - Congratulations to our very own Nancy McCurrach of unit 51 for being selected as USW District 3’s 2017 USW Cares Jefferson Award!

Nancy, who will receive her award in December in Pittsburgh during the International Executive Board meeting, has been recognized for her outstanding work with welcoming Syrian refugees to the Tri-Cities (Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam, and Port Moody), British Columbia.

Sister McCurrach founded a group called the Tri-Cities Refugee Welcome Wagon to assist refugees in integrating to their new community. Her group has hosted fundraisers which have collectively raised over $4500 for the new families. Money, and other charitable donations that have been collected have been used to help refugee families by providing anything from clothing, to strollers, to school supplies.

As part of being recognized for all of her charitable work, she will also be given a $500 donation towards her worthy cause.

“Not only are our members active in the labour movement but they go above and beyond in becoming active in social issues that they believe in. Last year our Local Union Representative Ron Palmer was also a recipient of a Jefferson Award. I am so proud of our National Local and all the good work that our members do in their respective communities,” said USW 1944 President Lee Riggs.

The Jefferson Awards Foundation is a long-standing and prestigious organization dedicated to celebrating and honouring public service, The United Steelworkers partnered with the Jefferson Awards Foundation in 2015 to showcase members like Nancy who are doing great work in communities across North America.

We wish Sister McCurrach the best in all of her future community outreach endeavours.

In solidarity,

The Telecommunications Workers Union, United Steelworkers National Local 1944