Teamsters unite to aid Catholic Charities

Staff Photo/Joseph Cyr
HELPING HANDS — Teamsters Local Union #340 helped the Catholic Charities by unloading items at the Monticello warehouse Friday. Taking part are, from left Dale Morrison, Tony Robichaud and Traci Place.
By Joseph Cyr
Staff Writer
    MONTICELLO — Old hotel furniture from southern Maine will soon help feed the hungry in Aroostook County thanks to the efforts of the Catholic Charities and Teamsters Local Union #340.
    According to Traci Place, with Teamsters Local Union #340, the Teamsters have partnered with Catholic Charities on a number of events over the past four years, most notably a food drive to collect a tractor-trailer load of non-perishable goods.
    This time around, though, the two groups had a larger collaboration in the works.
    “Recently, Dixie Shaw (of Catholic Charities) was able to purchase a couple of trailers from a business in southern Maine with some grant money,” Place explained. “But she was having difficulty getting the trailers to northern Maine.”
    Enter the Teamsters, who agreed to get the trailers to The County.
    “Dixie gave me a call to see if we would be willing to use our tractor trailer to bring the trailers north,” Place said. “I made a couple of phone calls and the teamsters union said ‘whatever it takes.’”
    As fate would have it, Catholic Charities was also able to procure furniture from a hotel in Ogunquit around the same time that the Teamsters were due to bring the trailers.
    The Teamsters hooked on to the trailers in southern Maine and made the 300-mile trek to Catholic Charities’ Monticello warehouse on Friday.
    Place convinced two members of the Teamsters Union, Dale Morrison and Tony Robichaud, who are also members of the Presque Isle Fire Department to help with unloading the items.
    “This is really just a big collaborative effort to help our friends and neighbors,” Place said. “That is what it is all about.”