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The Pinellas Pasco and Tampa Sunshine Councils of the Verizon
West Chapter have assisted the Safety Harbor Museum of Regional
History to put on a world class display of telecommunications
equipment in their museum in Safety Harbor, Florida. The
display, scheduled for a six-month presentation, is entitled,
"The Evolution of Communications" and goes from Indian Smoke
Signals to Verizon FIOS. The Councils scoured the area and found
dozens of vintage telephones, including several magneto wooden
crank phones, candlestick phones, early handsets, type 300 and
500 handsets, key phones, princess, starlite, and others.
Included is the original cord switchboard from the famous Bellevue Biltmore Hotel, the original #15 teletypewriter that forwarded time and charges to hotels and motels in 1935, Strowger step-by-step selectors and connectors, man hole apparatus, climbers, wire cutters, pay phones, a veritable plethora of vintage telecommunications equipment, large photographs and stories of the history of telephony. The Verizon Corporation donated equipment and installed FIOS. The museum offers the visitor the opportunity to use a working candlestick phone to call a cell phone outside to show that the equipment still works after almost 100 years. |
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Congratulations to the project coordinators and committee
members whose applications became finalists for the TCP National
Awards. Of the 217 applications submitted from the five groups,
129 became finalists. Verizon/Frontier/Fairpoint/Telcordia
(V/F/F/T) submitted 16 applications and 13 became finalists.
They are listed to the left. The award recipients will be
announced at the TCP's Annual Meeting in New Orleans Feb. 26-28,
2009. Our March issue will contain the list of V/F/F/T
recipients and highlight the group's Hall of Fame winners.
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Our Life Member Spotlight is on...
Carol Baker of the W.J. Denver Chapter Carol Baker has been a lifelong volunteer and a Pioneer for more than 20 years. She currently is serving as president of the Providence Club in Rhode Island. Carol also served as life member rep for the four Rhode Island clubs. When the chapter combined clubs and councils in 2008, Carol was asked to be the Community Service chairperson for the chapter in addition to serving as president of a combined active and life member group. Carol has stepped right up to the challenge by engaging employees at various work locations in corporate projects such as Tools for Schools, HopelineŽ cell phone collections and Season's Readings. During the holidays, Carol and her volunteers collect food from employees and retirees at their luncheons and create food baskets they deliver to local food banks and shelters. She manages the Pioneer Pantry Project by coordinating the distribution of grocery store gift cards to employees who shop and deliver food to their community's local food pantry. She also spearheads the purchase of PJs and a Book for the chapter's "It's Jammie Time" program and coordinates the delivery to local foster parent agencies in her area. Carol is dedicated to the Rhode Island Women's Shelter where she and her team collect goods and use Verizon Foundation funds to make Health Kits for the men, women and children being served by the shelter. Carol also coordinates the Autism Walk's lunch swelling to over 1500 walkers and patrons of this event in the past few years. Carol and her club managed the C.A.S.T. for Kids fishing event for the past three years. Carol's coordination efforts of goodie bags, pictures, buttons for the kids, breakfast and lunch meals provided a service that was very much appreciated by the organizers. When asked to expand the event to include a yearly alumni cookout, Carol agreed without hesitation to provide the food and volunteers. |
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The Frederick Life Member Club of the Maryland Chapter has
supported the Angel Tree program in Frederick, MD, since 2000.
The program, sponsored by the Salvation Army, provides clothing
and shoes for needy children on Christmas Day. The Salvation
Army also provides toys gathered from other sources. This year,
families have applied for assistance for 2,000 children in
Frederick County. The life members, along with other
organizations in the county, staff the Angel Tree from 10 a.m.
until 9 p.m., Nov. 11 - Dec. 8, at the Francis Scott Key Mall.
Each angel placed on the tree represents a child. The child's name, age, gender and sizes are on the angel. Each day the Salvation Army provides a new supply of angels to be hung on the tree. Shoppers select an angel and shop for the child. The clothing, along with the angel, is brought back to the tree in time for the Salvation Army to prepare for distribution before Christmas Day. The life members log the shopper's name, address and date next to the number associated with the angel. They also provide instructions to the shoppers regarding the program's requirements. When the shopper returns with the items, that date is then logged and the packages are placed in a container for pickup by the Salvation Army. During 2007, 12 Life Members and eight partners spent 135 hours staffing the tree. This year, the same participation is expected. Dorothy DeGrange coordinates the volunteer scheduling for the Angel Tree. She is a Frederick life member, the 2007 Maryland Chapter Volunteer of the Year, and a member of the Salvation Army Auxiliary.
(Photo: l-r) Eleanor Weitzel and Betty Welsh.
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Our Life Member Spotlight is on...
Diana Buzzard of the West Virginia Chapter Diana Buzzard is a one-of-a-kind life member from West Virginia. An active Pioneer during her working career in Charleston, W.V., she dove head first into the Charleston, W.V. Life Member Club upon her retirement in December 2001. Serving as Charleston Life Member Club president for the past four years, she has preserved the club by continuing past projects and embracing new ones with the intensity needed to have a successful project year for her members. In 2006, every public school in Kanawha County, W.V., received Verizon's student dictionaries. Enhancing the program, she branched out to parochial and Christian schools as well as home schools. It was the single most concentrated distribution of dictionaries in the state. W.V. Pioneers covered each of its 55 counties. Each year, she has seen that the Charleston life members present United States rug maps to as many schools as their funds allow. She ensures that her chapter collects food and other items for Mountain Mission and the Domestic Violence Shelter in Charleston. Diana also volunteers in many capacities for the W.V. International Sports Jamboree. Diana updates the WV Chapter website and manages the time reporting process. She has been praised on a region level for the excellent handling of her PALS reporting. Her work with Pioneering, her family involvement, her church work and everything in between has been an inspiration to all Pioneers throughout W.V. |
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On Nov. 15, 2008, the Nova 5 Chapter's Clown Unit went to the
Woodlands High School in Hartsdale, N.Y., to help out with a
fundraising project called Merlin's Miracles. Merlin's Miracles
is a foundation started by a USMC Sgt. Merlin German. He was
stationed in Iraq in 2004, as a part of Weapons Platoon for
convoy security.
In Feb. 2005, Sgt. German's Humvee was hit by a roadside bomb. Burned over 97% of his body, he was flown to the Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, TX, and given a 3% chance of survival. However after nine months in the intensive care unit and more than 150 surgeries, he defied all odds and became known to everyone as the "Miracle Man." Sgt. German was awarded the purple heart and became an inspiration to other wounded warriors. Sadly, he died April 11, 2008 after a routine surgery at age 22. This fundraising event continued his campaign to raise funds to help families of other burn victims. The mayor and council personal were there to present his mother and family a proclamation in his honor. Saturday was also his actual birthday. A special guest was David Blain. Other guests included the chapter's Raisy the Clown, Nappy the Clown, Silly the Clown and Verizon Partner Christina Pun. |
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This program provides scholarships annually to relatives of
Pioneers. The scholarship program is awarded based on applicant
involvement in community service, school and leadership
activities and academic achievement. The scholarship is a one-
time award in the amount of $1,000. In 2009, there will be one
scholarship awarded in each of the five Pioneer groups. In the
past, two scholarships had been awarded to applicants from each
group.
The V/F/F/T TelecomPioneers began accepting applications on November 15. The postmark deadline for filing an application is Feb. 28, 2009. Learn more about eligibility and the application process. |
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Dear Mr. Yager:
On behalf of the Fire & Life Safety Education Task Force, I convey our gratitude to Gabe Olah and the Mountain Valley Empire Pioneer Chapter 97 for the support provided during our fire and life safety education efforts at Galway Central School. Your 9-1-1 Simulator was one of the 10 "hands-on" fire safety exhibits the 490 students in K-5th grades were able to use. Our two-day event was truly successful thanks to organizations like yours, which provides us assistance. Please express our thanks to all those who made use of the Simulator possible. If you have any other thoughts or suggestions for future programs, we would welcome your comments. Sincerely, Frederick S. Richards Fire & Life Safety Education Coordinator
Robert Yager is the 9-1-1 Simulator Committee Chair for the
Mountain Valley Empire Chapter.
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Our Estore manager would like to hear your recommendations on new products. Please e-mail bruceyennie@verizon.net with your feedback.
Verizon TelecomPioneers
P.O. Box 4406 . Salem, MA 01970
email:
info@verizonpioneers.org
phone:
978.745.9600
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