BUILDING TRADES FAMILIES AND SPONSORS RAISE NEARLY $800K FOR DIABETES MEDICAL RESEARCH

Washington, DC – June 6, 2019 – North America’s Building Trades Unions (NABTU) convened its 33rd annual Labor of Love charity event in Philadelphia this week and raised almost $780,000 for medical research at the Diabetes Research Institute (DRI).

“The Building Trades are unwavering in our commitment to communities and meaningful charity endeavors, and the consistent success of Labor of Love shows it,” said NABTU President and Pennsylvania native Sean McGarvey.  “Everyday  millions of individuals and families are affected by diabetes in America. We come together each year in support of this common cause knowing the Diabetes Research Institute Foundation is the best hope for a cure. We commend our sponsors, the City of Philadelphia, Mayor Kenney, John Dougherty, Wayne Miller, and all of our brothers and sisters in our affiliated local unions at the Philadelphia Building & Construction Trades Council, for hosting us two years in a row. We could not have set another Labor of Love record – raising nearly $800,000 to help cure diabetes- without them.”

This year’s event hosted hundreds of sponsors and tradespeople in Philadelphia for an annual softball tournament with all of the local unions representing each of the building trades, charity bowling and poker tournaments, and three golf events held across the Philadelphia area.  The fundraising from this year’s Labor of Love’s is the most successful to date, bringing NABTU’s overall contribution to DRI to $57 million.

“DRI extends our sincere thanks to the NABTU members and affiliates as well as the Philadelphia Building Trades for being wonderful hosts and for making the Labor of Love weekend so successful,” said Alice O’Rourke, Chief Executive Officer of the Diabetes Research Institute Foundation. “Your incredible commitment to support the Diabetes Research Institute’s work to cure diabetes has raised more than $57 million over our 35-year partnership. We are extremely grateful to NABTU, our largest donor, for ushering in a new era of cure-focused diabetes research by building the DRI’s 87,000 square foot, state-of-the-art facility with the same vision, care and quality with which you have built the Americas.”

The labor movement as a whole contributes nearly a billion dollars to numerous charitable causes across North America each year. Here is a video about NABTU’s efforts to help the DRI find a cure.

 

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