Union Plus: Union Plus Disaster Relief Grants of $500 are available to help participants in the Union Plus Credit Card, Insurance or Mortgage programs who are facing financial hardship due to the recent severe weather. The money does not have to be repaid. Funds are limited to the nearly $370,000 available in the Union Plus Disaster Relief Fund. Log onto their website at www.unionplus.org/sandy or call: Union Plus Credit Card: 1-877-761-5028; Union Plus Mortgage: 1-800-472-2005; Union Plus Insurance: 1-800-472-2005.

• FEMA – http://www.fema.gov/states/new-york

• Redcross –http://www.nyredcross.org/

• Salvation Army – http://www.use.salvationarmy.org/gnyd (The salvation Army is running dozens of mobile feeding units and shelters in New York and New Jersey.)

• Feeding America –http://feedingamerica.org/ ( 25-35 of their food banks will be feeding people in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy)

• Recovers.org – https://recovers.org/communities (offers disaster Dashboard for organization relief efforts among specific communities.)

• World Vision –http://www.worldvision.org/ ( Is distributing flood clean-up kits, personal hygiene items and emergency food kits to people hit by the hurricane.)

• Americares –http://www.americares.org/ (Providing medicine and other supplies to people affected by Hurricane sandy

• Save the children – www.savethechildren.org (working to provide relief to families and their children)

• ASPCA – http://www.aspca.org/ (The ASPCA is setting up water rescue teams and reviewing grants for those who have financial needs as a result of caring for animals affected by the hurricane.)

New York City:

For information on services available throughout the city www.governor.ny.gov
Disaster Center Locations in NYC, Call 311 or www.NYC.gov/oem

NYS recovery programs:

Hurricane Sandy Business Recovery Information – New York City, including the New York City Department of Small Business Services (SBS) and The New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYEDC) is coordinating a set of services to help New York businesses in recovering from the effects of Hurricane Sandy. Below is an outline of available assistance.

• Get help with the Emergency Loan Fund.

• Access Federal Aid Programs for Disaster Recovery.

• Apply for sales tax exemptions of up to $100,000 for rebuilding materials and equipment.

• Free co-working space, supplies, and other services available for businesses impacted by Hurricane Sandy.

• Take steps that can help reduce and recover your losses.

• Help employees get Disaster Unemployment Assistance (DUA).

Connecticut:Response and Recovery

Blood Donations:

The Red Cross is reporting a shortfall of more than 7,000 blood donations in the Northeast. To find the location closest to your home if you’re interested in donating blood, please call 1-800-RED-CROSS or visit – Give Blood

Monetary Donations:

CWA Disaster Relief Fund: CWA’s Disaster Relief Fund is one resource to assist members who experience a financial hardship due to a natural disaster as declared by FEMA. The Fund may provide the member with a subsidy based on their essential losses associated with their primary home. Applications may be requested through your CWA Staff Representative.

Donations should be made out and mailed to:

CWA Disaster Relief – Hurricane Sandy Fund
Secretary-Treasurer’s Office
501 3rd St, NW
Washington, DC 20001

Verizon Disaster Relief & Recovery Program: The Verizon Foundation Disaster Program will provide 2:1 match on employee donations of $25 or more to the American Red Cross and the Salvation Army. Under the program, the foundation will double employee donations of up to $1K per employee, so a donation of $1K by an employee would amount to a $2K donation by the Verizon Foundation for total of $3K to their designated agency. Verizon Foundation Matching Gifts

United Way: The United Way has created a Hurricane Sandy Recovery Fund to address the near-term and long-term recovery needs of individuals, families and communities along the Eastern Seaboard that were impacted by Hurricane Sandy’s devastation.

Persons interested in donating to charitable solicitations for hurricane recovery efforts are encouraged to review “Tips for Giving in Times of Crisis” available online from Charity Navigator in order to avoid charities fraud. Charity Navigator has also prepared a webpage specific to Hurricane Sandy with tips for making smart giving decisions in the wake of the storm, as well as a list of highly-rated charities responding.
The United Way Hurricane Sandy Recovery Fund

SHELTERS:

For information on available shelters throughout Connecticut, call 2-1-1 or visit http://www.211ct.org/

New Jersey Recovery Programs:

For any business in need of emergency assistance-http://www.nyc.gov/html/sbs/nycbiz/html/contact/manager.shtml

American RedCross:

North Jersey Region
Central Jersey
South Jersey

Washington, D.C. – Following is a statement by President Larry Cohen, president of the Communications Workers of America, on the results of Election 2012.

“Throughout this very long political campaign, at CWA, we’ve been clear that elections are about choices. Americans who want to ensure a place for working families in our economy made a clear choice in re-electing President Obama.

Tens of thousands of our members, activists and volunteers, stepped up and did amazing work, not only in returning President Obama to office but in electing representatives who will stand with working Americans and not look for ways to cut programs that working families count on and more tax breaks for the wealthiest in our nation.

Our members and activists took a stand for democracy in many ways in Election 2012.

• In Ohio, thousands of CWA activists, working with the Stand Up for Ohio coalition, made the difference in this election. They started more than a year ago, getting 1.3 million signatures to block the Republican plan to destroy public workers’ collective bargaining rights. They turned back a similar attempt to suppress the vote. And they mobilized to re-elect President Obama and U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown, among others.

• In Pennsylvania, well before Election Day, our members, working with the NAACP, the Transport Workers Union and other groups, registered new voters in the face of the most restrictive voter identification law in the U.S. and are fighting back against a wave of voter suppression.

• In Virginia, CWA leafleted hundreds of worksites across the states, knocked on thousands of doors in labor walks and made thousands of phone calls to support President Obama and Tim Kaine for the U.S. Senate.

CWA and our progressive allies are looking ahead, determined to work to abolish the bars to democracy that threaten our democratic process. These are: Senate rules that make progress on any issue just about impossible; the obscene amount of money in politics that was all too evident in Election 2012; voter suppression, and barriers to legalization for millions of immigrants. These have no place in our democracy. We know that the choices made this Election Day will move us closer to economic justice and democracy for all.”

CWA News

Verizon Headquarters After Hurricane Sandy. (Damon Dahlen, AOL)

By Gerry Smith

The building took on heavy flooding during the storm surge brought ashore by Hurricane Sandy. Workers begin the arduous task of cleaning and repairing the Verizon Headquarters building as well as telecommunications infrastructure located at West and Barclay Streets in Lower Manhattan on Saturday Nov. 3, 2012.

The water came rushing through the lobby, crashing against doors, shattering windows and scattering sandbags meant to stop it. Then, it cascaded down the stairs and flooded the underground cable vault, soaking tangled wires that deliver phone and Internet service to customers across the region.

“It was churning like crazy. You can see the line here,” Chris Levendos, Verizon’s executive director of national operations, said Saturday, pointing to a 4-foot-high water mark left on the lobby wall. “It was finding all sorts of ways to get into the building.”

Heavy flooding this week at Verizon’s headquarters in lower Manhattan — a critical node of its network infrastructure — has begun to subside, but the company’s effort to repair damaged network equipment and restore service to customers after Hurricane Sandy continues.

Read the full story.

List of Gas Stations Updated 1 p.m. Nov. 4

The attached list was updated at 1 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 4, and identifies several hundred gas stations in CT, NJ, NY and PA which have received fuel deliveries. If possible, you should call ahead to check that gas is still available.

Following is additional information to assist Verizon employees and their families with finding gas.

• This crisis map on Google includes information on gas stations
• This link provides information about Hess stations in the region: http://hessexpress.com/FuelInformation
• The NJ Office of Emergency Management posts lists of gas stations that are up and running here: http://readynj.posterous.com/list-of-pharmacies-hotels-restaurants-and-gas
• You can also follow @njgas and @nygas on Twitter

REMINDER:  New Jersey has implemented odd-even number rationing in the following counties: Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Hunterdon, Middlesex, Morris, Monmouth, Passaic, Somerset, Sussex, Union, and Warren. Motorists with a license plate ending with an odd number can purchase gas on odd calendar days and with an even number on even calendar days. Plates without numbers will be treated as an odd number. Customers walking to a station can fill their gas cans on any day.

Verizon Technicians Out in Force this Weekend to Restore Services, Serve Customers; Fuel Availability Remains Daily Concern

Tens of thousands of Verizon engineers, technicians and customer-service employees are working this weekend as they continue to restore voice and data communications, Internet and TV service to consumers, business and government clients.

Service Restoration, Out-of-Service Credits and Verizon Foundation Support:

• Verizon employees are out in force across the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast, working round-the-clock in the hardest-hit New Jersey and New York region to restore services. Watch crews restoring service in Rhode Island and lower Manhattan.
• As the company completes restoration in less-severely affected parts of the region, it will redeploy employees and other resources to New Jersey and the New York metro area. For example, Verizon has sent dozens of portable generators from Virginia and Maryland to the areas where service is most affected.
• Verizon technical support will help customers determine if their equipment such as set-top boxes or home broadband routers is operable or needs replacement. The company will repair or replace any Verizon equipment damaged by Sandy, without charge.
• Many Verizon FiOS and Verizon Wireless stores in the affected region are open to people who need to charge their wireless devices. Several Verizon Wireless mobile stores-on-wheels that have been moved into the hard-hit New Jersey and New York areas are also providing this service.
• Fuel availability is a daily concern. Verizon’s command center continues to work with fuel suppliers and federal, state and local government officials to secure the fuel essential to keep generators and service vehicles running so Internet access and voice and data communications can continue to flow.
• To aid in Hurricane Sandy recovery efforts, the Verizon Foundation is matching customertext-to-donate contributions to American Red Cross relief efforts up to $1 million. Customers can make a $10 donation by texting REDCROSS to 90999, and those who would like to give more can donate up to $50 via text. Learn more about the Verizon Foundation’s Sandy support..

Customers can contact Verizon online at www.verizon.com/outage to report any wireline service-related issues; or call 1-800-VERIZON (1-800-837-4966). Please note that hold times will be longer than normal due to higher calling volumes. Read prior Hurricane Sandy updates.

For more information on Verizon Wireless efforts related to Hurricane Sandy, visit the Emergency Information Center.

Verizon Enterprise Solutions updates are available at www.verizonbusiness.com/info/hurricane.

UPDATE: Nov. 1. The Verizon Foundation enhanced its Disaster Relief and Recovery Program and will provide a 2:1 match on employee donations of $25 or more to the American Red Cross and the Salvation Army.

Under the program, the foundation will double employee donations of up to $1,000 per employee, so a donation of 1,000 would amount to a $2,000 donation by the foundation for total of $3,000 to the designated agency. See below for details

If you’ve already made a donation, it will still be matched on a 2:1 basis. .

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The Verizon Foundation has activated its Disaster Relief and Recovery Program to help people along the East Coast affected by Hurricane Sandy, which lived up to its “super storm” designation and left vast areas flooded and more than 8 million people without power in its wake.

The program will match online credit-card donations of $25 or more — up to $1,000 per employee — on a 2:1 basis through Nov. 15 from Verizon employees to the American Red Cross and the Salvation Army, which are engaged in relief efforts to help people throughout the East Coast..

The foundation’s disaster-relief program is now open to Verizon employees throughout the world.

In addition, the foundation has donated $100,000 to the American Red Cross to help with relief efforts across states affected by Hurricane Sandy.

[NOTE: Verizon Wireless has activated the Text-to-Donate Campaign. Customers can support relief efforts by making a $10 donation to designated relief organizations via text message — and can donate up to five times for a total of $50.]

Both the American Red Cross and the Salvation Army have mobilized to respond to the enormous need for water, meals and shelter — a need that’s likely to continue for days until the flooding recedes, power is restored and people can return to their homes.

From North Carolina up to Massachusetts, both relief agencies have deployed personnel and disaster-response vehicles to meet the pressing demands imposed by Hurricane Sandy.

To date, the American Red Cross has

• Opened and managed 258 shelters across 16 states with nearly 11,000 overnight residents
• Mobilized nearly 200 Emergency Response Vehicles
• Served more than 100,000 meals
• Made more than 1,400 health and mental health consultations

Along with food and water, the Salvation Army is working to provide

• Clean-up kits containing brooms, mops, buckets and cleaning supplies;
• Hygiene kits
• Shower units
• First-aid supplies
• Communications support

How to Donate:

Logon to the Verizon Foundation Matching Gifts site

Volunteers Needed

The Red Cross is in need of volunteers in New York and New Jersey and is looking for people to provide

• Assistance in shelters
• Support in our warehouses
• Help with distributing needed supplies
• Help with serving meals
• Help in identifying areas that are damaged, so that we can send the right services

If you are able to volunteer your time for one day or more, please go here to register as available and a Red Cross representative will reach out to you shortly.