Ohio AFL-CIO Field Director Jeanette Mauk (fourth from left) was presented the USA Volunteer of the Year Award by (from left) AFL-CIO President and USA Board of Directors Chair Richard Trumka, USA Director of Conservation and Community Outreach Forrest Parker, USA President and CEO Scott Vance, and USA Director of Union Relations Walt Ingram.
The Union Sportsmen’s Alliance (USA) has honored Ohio AFL-CIO Field Director Jeanette Mauk with the organization’s Volunteer of the Year Award for her tireless commitment to conservation, community service and solidarity.
Mauk, of Dayton, Ohio, is a vested member of the Industrial Division of the Communications Workers of America (IUE-CWA), which is a USA charter union, and is also a member of the Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU) Local 98.
She has a long track record of volunteering her time and talents to organize projects and special events through the USA’s Work Boots on the ground program. For example, she was instrumental in the Lakeside Lake renovation project in West Dayton, rallying more than 100 union and community volunteers to clear trash and invasive vegetation, assemble a fishing pier and install custom park benches.
In 2018, Mauk played a key role in organizing USA Take Kids Fishing Day events in Marietta, Dayton, West Portsmouth and Portsmouth, and assisted the Chillicothe Fire Department with its Fish With A Firefighter Day—all with help of union volunteers.
In addition, she has shepherded and grown the USA’s Ohio State Conservation Dinner in Columbus for seven years, raising funds for multiple projects, including the construction of the Black Fork Wetlands Environmental Studies Center at Ashland University.
“Our Volunteer of the Year Award goes to someone who has gone above and beyond,” said USA President and CEO Scott Vance, “a person who is a role model for other volunteers. Someone who can get out front, motivate and inspire. Jeanette has all those qualities and more.”
Mauk began her union career in 1997 while working on an auto assembly line in Dayton. Starting out as a union steward, she worked her way into the local IUE-CWA office, then onto the staff of the Central Labor Council in Dayton.
As state AFL-CIO field director, she travels Ohio working with all the Central Labor Councils, and takes every opportunity offered to talk about the USA and its mission. “I love the labor movement and am proud of the benefits it brings union members,” she said. “I also support the USA wholeheartedly because it’s a program that benefits not just union members, but their families and the communities as well. When people see my sincerity as I talk about it, I think they respond.”
Ohio claims 35,000 USA members, more than any other state, and the annual USA Conservation Dinner in Columbus, with more than 500 attendees, is the second largest in the country—thanks in part to Mauk’s efforts.
Upon receiving the Volunteer of the Year Award, she said, “This is awesome, and means a lot. But the real reward of being involved in the labor movement and working with the USA includes giving back to our communities, fostering solidarity among union members and building bridges between unions and the public. When you see what can be accomplished when everyone pulls together, it just makes you want to do more.”
Ever humble, Mauk was quick to credit volunteers from local unions and the surrounding community for uniting to make the events and projects she has organized possible.
“I’m able to accomplish what we have here in Ohio on behalf of the Ohio AFL-CIO because of our great volunteers from all sectors of our labor unions, building trades and other groups within the community,” she said.
Mauk was presented the Volunteer of the Year Award July 16 during the USA’s Fundraising Gala in Washington, D.C.
