Gimme Five

Mark Dowell comes from good union stock. He is a third-generation Ford Motor Co. worker. A member of UAW Local 862 in Louisville, Ky., his grandfather, Harold Dowell, retired from Ford in the 1960s. His father, Carl W. Dowell, was a local union president and UAW Region 3 servicing representative, retiring in 2007 after 38 years. Mark Dowell’s wife, Melinda, also a Local 862 member, has been with the union for a decade. Just as his grandfather and father did, Dowell, 37, works at Ford’s Kentucky Truck Plant, along with his wife. He also serves as chair of the Community Action Program (CAP) for Kentucky’s 3rd and 4th Congressional districts. He gets excited about the union and he gets excited about politics. For him the excitement is in the work and the reward of knowing that he is making a difference.

How did you get involved with the GimmeFIVE Mobilization Program?

“This year while I was at the Region 3 Summer School program at Black Lake [the Walter and May Reuther UAW Family Education Center], our region introduced us to GimmeFIVE. It fired up everyone, and we wanted to give some more time back to our union. It motivated me to get more involved.”

What do you say to UAW members and retirees who want to join GimmeFIVE?

“It’s always good to see new faces volunteering to help with our push to help all working families. It takes hard work and everyone’s effort to do what union people do best: protect working families.”

How’s it going since you signed up to volunteer?

“I’m enjoying every day of it. I believe in fighting for the hard-working people of America and working to protect the money and benefits they deserve. No one else is going to take a stand for working people. ”

What have you been working on?

“Since it’s a midterm election year, a lot of it has been in the area of politics. I’ve been canvassing neighborhoods, going door to door talking with members about our UAW-endorsed candidates, phone banking and doing mailings. These are the kind of activities that will help our union grow stronger and build power.”

How can we get more members and retirees involved?

“We just have to keep pushing our members to help out. Once they try it, then all you have to do is stand back and watch. When they experience how good it feels to give back like this, they will come back.”

Sandra Davis