A new Teamster Video featuring Local 2010 members shows how our Union came together to assist hundreds of members who lost their homes in last year’s Northern California Camp Fire. The video was shown at the annual Teamster Unity Conference, and Local 2010 member Brannon Prius addressed the conference.
The Camp Fire destroyed the entire town of Paradise and much of Butte County. Members of Teamsters Locals 2010 and 137 were among the thousands who lost their homes in this terrible fire. Our members shared their experiences in the video and took to the Unity Conference stage to thank their Teamster Sisters and Brothers for all the support they provided during and after the fire.
In the immediate aftermath of the fire, Joint Council 7 stepped into action to provide food, water, supplies and over 176 checks to victims from money raised through the Joint Council 7 Disaster Relief Fund. There was not a dry eye in the house as one by one, each Teamster impacted by the fire stepped to the microphone and relived those devastating moments. Despite their struggles and fears of never getting back to the lives they had before the fire, each of them could not have been more grateful to their fellow Teamsters for stepping up to help them in their time of need.
Local 2010 Brother, Brannon Prius, overwhelmed with emotion and struggling to get his words out, said: “Thank you from the bottom of my heart, and I speak for my co-workers at Chico State, if they were here they would say the same thing, thank you very much! We can’t tell you how much it meant to us, just to get us through the first two weeks before we even got any money from insurance. What the hell are we going to do? So, again, thank you and we’re doing it!!! We got a big ole bag of lemons and we’re making lemonade!!”
We want to thank Joint Council 7 and all Teamsters across the nation for their support. We will continue to work with our members and their families through these trying times.