They like to think outside the box at Albuquerque, N.M. Local 611, as a TV news live shot illustrated to perfection over the holidays.
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| Interviewed live on KOAT-TV in Albuquerque, Business Manager Pete Trujillo shows off one of the 200 special-order jackets that Local 611 donated to the station’s annual “Koats for Kids” drive. Trujillo explained that the custom, Carhartt-like jackets, sewn by hand at a union plant in Michigan, are similar to what his construction members wear. The local also donated hundreds of other new, store-bought coats for children and teenagers.
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| Local 611 members with a sampling of the hundreds of donations they made in 2021 to their community’s annual “Koats for Kids” drive, sponsored by KOAT-TV. In addition to new store-bought coats, the local ordered 200 custom jackets from a union plant in Michigan; NECA and building trades partners helped foot the bill.
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“The camera showed Business Manager Pete Trujillo standing behind a donation box stuffed with new coats inside an Albertsons grocery, one of many drop-off points for KOAT-TV’s annual “Koats for Kids” drive.
Community members gave generously, as always, but today the reporter wanted to know about the special dark-blue coat that one of Trujillo’s IBEW brothers was holding above the box.
“Stitched in America, Carhartt-like jackets,” Trujillo said proudly. “They’re sturdy, durable. These are what we use in construction. They can be handed down generation to generation.”
It was one of 200 coats sized for children and teenagers that Local 611 custom-ordered from a union manufacturer in Michigan, with NECA and building trades partners contributing toward the bill.
On top of keeping kids warm, Trujillo stressed to viewers, the coats provided work for American union members.
It was a feat they’d pulled off at lightning speed.
The station had invited Local 611 to be a Koats for Kids sponsor only a few weeks earlier, adding to the union’s long list of seasonal good deeds — from turkey and toy drives to food banks, a major blood drive, and more.
“From adoption to success, we didn’t have very much time,” said Baudilio Baca, who helped coordinate the project along with fellow assistant business manager Tomas Trujillo.
“You can be a major sponsor or you can be a minor sponsor, and we ended up being a major sponsor,” Tomas Trujillo said.
Members eagerly jumped in, contributing cash and new, store-bought coats on their own.
“One box actually split open, it was so full of coats,” Baca said.
Local 611 has been working with the TV station on marketing efforts, getting the word out about the IBEW — its training and career opportunities, but also its heart.
“We want to brand ourselves as partners in the community,” Baca said. “Members have commented how good it is to see the IBEW promoting good and promoting union workers and union work.”