Longshore workers in Olympia, WA, donated time and money to assist in disaster relief for Japan, where bottled water was needed after the tsunami and earthquake. This photo shows members of ILWU Local 47 and voluntary travelers loading one of 29 pallets of water onto the log ship Global Wisdom.
In the wake of the March earthquake and tsunami in Japan, longshore workers in Olympia, WA, responded by giving their time and money in a coordinated effort to provide relief. They worked with several port partners to purchase 56,840 bottles of water and load them aboard a log ship that had donated space for the nearly 5,000-mile journey.
Volunteers from International Longshore and Warehouse Union ILWU Local 47 and voluntary travelers, along with employees from Weyerhaeuser, Port of Olympia and SSA donated time and $5,600 for the water. On April 20, the longshore workers and SSA staff voluntarily loaded the 29 pallets of bottles onto the Global Wisdom log ship, which provided free space and ocean transport.
Keith Bausch, president of ILWU Local 47, worked alongside other longshore volunteers. “We appreciate the work that we receive for shipping logs to Japan,” said Bausch, “So it is a great privilege to be able to give something back to help the people of Japan through their time of suffering.”