Friend,

Last night, I had a Zoom call with some AFT leaders in Oregon. The stories they told me broke my heart.

Entire towns have been burned to the ground, people are fleeing, the sky is full of smoke, and all of this is happening during a health pandemic, where it’s dangerous to seek refuge with other people. These are the worst fires in generations, maybe ever. While it’s undeniable climate change is real, that is an issue for this year’s election. Now we have to help those who have been severely affected by the fires.

We’re opening up our Disaster Relief Fund to help make sure that the school bus drivers, teachers, school cafeteria workers, college faculty, graduate workers, other school staff and nurses who are directly impacted by the fires have support from us.

You can give directly to the fund, and 100 percent of the money will go to disaster relief. Help us help these people in crisis.

Fighting for solutions to the climate crisis is something we’re committed to, but that starts with a leader in the White House who actually acknowledges that climate change is real. The AFT is committed to those goals, which include teaching climate science and sustainability in our schools. While we’re fighting for these policies, we have to help the people whose lives and livelihoods have been destroyed by the fires.

The reports I heard from the Oregon School Employees Association are horrifying and sobering. One of our members said, “This is like Armageddon,” and then went on to talk about how this doesn’t just affect her, but her students. In the middle of the crisis, she was thinking about how this is impacting her students. Another member said, “We don’t know how we’re going to survive this.” She described the devastation and the pain that she and so many others are going through.

At the beginning of the pandemic, school staff and teachers were praised as heroes. With the hard work of bus drivers, food service workers, paraprofessionals and school staff, meals were delivered to kids who rely on school lunches to eat. Teachers went above and beyond to try and engage kids, despite the unprecedented nature of the shutdowns.

I’m asking you to join me, step up and help these heroes. Many have lost their homes—their communities—and we’re in a position to give them a helping hand.

We’ve sent N95 masks to OSEA to help, which should arrive tomorrow. And we’re working to make sure these school employees make it through this crisis.

Every cent that goes to the AFT Disaster Relief Fund goes directly to helping teachers, nurses, school staff, higher education employees and public employees. Click here to give directly to the AFT Disaster Relief Fund.

In unity,
Randi Weingarten
AFT president