Loading...Fight ALS with IBEW/NECA Team – Lou Gehrigs Disease 5K
Every August, when the temperatures are at their hottest and school’s out for the summer —- more than 16 hundred union electrical instructors and teachers escape the heat here inside the classrooms on the campus of the university of Michigan – taking part in the national training institute, better known as N.T.I.
This week-long, detail-oriented, not-a-minute wasted, tangible example of the value-added benefits of ‘building union’ has been going on for more than 20 years.
Through a partnership with the NJATC – the NECA/IBEW team’s official training arm – a blend of technical instruction meets 21st century application.
Skills these instructors will need when they return home to their local areas.
Mike Callanan – Executive Director, NJATC
“This week, 1,601 individuals representing NECA, IBEW and our JATCs are all walking the streets in Ann Arbor, and they’re getting re-chared up, they’re getting excited about a new school year that will be beginning in the next few short weeks, and I can’t think of a better, more important time for our industry and for the IBEW and NECA than than to be doing so.”
Individually, these IBEW instructors come from both coasts and everywhere in between. Each gives 4 years of their time to complete N.T.I. and in the end graduate and get a ‘degree’.
Collectively, these men and women serve as the bridge between an apprentice’s on-the-job questions and the answers they’ll learn within the 285 local training schools or JATC’s.
But there’s growth which happens outside the classroom, too.
It’s not uncommon to find an IBEW member working for their NECA contractor volunteering with Habitat for Humanity or countless other organizations the other 51 weeks of the year while they’re at home.
They wire scoreboards and light fields. Coach sports teams and cheer on others.
So, it’s not surprising that during this week, while they’re calling Ann Arbor home, the thought of ‘what can I do for this place?’ is never far from their minds.
In that vein – there are numerous examples of the NECA/IBEW team’s effect on this town.
The city is flooded with more than $5 million dollars’ worth of economic activity thanks to N.T.I. and its participants.
But more than 200 N.T.I.’ers did something on the Sunday morning of N.T.I. week that took their breath away and required some recovery time.
They came out to play a part in a 5k run/walk benefitting Lou Gehrig’s disease and the fight against ALS.
Sean Crump – IBEW Local 6
“It feels great to be able to give, and to support a cause that is worthy. We’d love to see this disease go away, and if us getting up early this morning and getting out here, and shaking off the rust from years of inactivity will do that, then I’m all for it.”
Gary Polulak – Detroit Area JATC
“It’s a community interest, and I want to be part of the community show that together we can make this thing happen and make bad things go away, like Lou Gehrig’s disease.”
Virginia Kingbury – NJATC
“We have partnered with A2A3, largely to help them raise funds for research for Lou Gehrig’s disease, it’s one of the most underfunded with medical research. And they’re very close to being able to find a cure if they can just obtain enough research dollars.”
Mike Callanan – Executive Director, NJATC
“My vision someday would be to have this race downtown, bring in more of the Ann Arbor community, bring in more of our businesses, and really do something good as a great way to kick off our time here in Ann Arbor.”
Chris Kelley – Long Island Electrical JATC
“I’m running this race because I feel it’s a great community support. We’re attending an event here and every year we’re going to be trying to show our support to the community and I think it’s a great thing to do.”
John Gosse – Editor in Chief, American Technical Publishing
“We feel very strong about training. But this is another dimension. This is an opportunity for the participants to get involved with a more fun, but also very just cause in supporting ALS and support the research required to find a cure.”
Crossing the finish line came with a sense of varying levels of individual accomplishment, but the collective knowledge of being one step closer to a cure for Lou Gehrig’s disease.
Just one example of why this group of graduates serves as evidence to the fact that NECA and the IBEW are hell-bent on giving owners and end-users the most bang for their buck, while making the communities in which they live and visit a little better than they found them.
The end result of N.T.I. isn’t measured in dollars and cents or in hours given to charity – the real effect is felt by you, the owners and end-users in the construction industry. Because of N.T.I., your jobsites are populated with the most productive and highly skilled electricians and technicians managed by the best NECA-affiliated contractors for your construction dollar, both of whom literally lap the competition.
And it will continue for years to come.