A Volunteer Day Full of Smiles at the Grotto

The IBEW 48 members volunteer their electrical knowledge to help bring the Grotto light festival to life. Our members run the power distribution and set up some temporary panels and preparing things for the lights to get plugged in. The real magic comes next when John Klein and his crew from Portland Productions put up more than 2 million lights.

IBEW 48’s Steve Hussey helped organize the day. Steve said “I think this is a special event because of what it means to so many people in the community and what a great display they put on out there at the Grotto. The IBEW’s members and partners helping the community with such a big holiday tradition really puts us all on display. This was my first experience with the grotto volunteer effort and was really received a lot of help from everyone."

As the saying goes it takes a village to make this day of service a success. From staff members at the hall and local 48 volunteers that have done this for decades, to Christenson Electric who helped with the permitting process and our safety director who supplied equipment and the BALMCC who provides funding.

Day of the event, everyone was in good spirits and jumped right in to help each other. Learning about the Grotto and the lighting tradition of the set up from the volunteers that had been going and helping with this event for years if not decades was a treat for our newer members.

Steve Martell who is a long time member of 48 and has helped with the Grotto since the 80’s was a big help. We were able to rely on that knowledge to help us be successful on the day. We were really in it together and I feel like that really is what the union spirit means to me.

Steve writes "I would like to thank all the amazing volunteers that took their day off and came out worked out in the weather together! The grotto for being such a gracious host. They supplied donuts and coffee in the morning. Jane Tokito, the deputy director of the grotto and Samantha Kocher in particular, who hung out all day with us and helped a ton. John Kline from Portland Productions and his crew were awesome to work with and helped us out a ton getting material and equipment where it needed to be."

Big thanks to Steve and everyone who made the day a success!

Enjoy more photos from the gallery: IBEW 48 Grotto Volunteer Day