When Victoria Garcia-Baffigo spent the 2015-2016 school year as a Rotary Exchange student sponsored by the Aurora Sunrise Rotary Club, she never expected it would to turn into a multi-year relationship allowing her to pursue a college education when all odds were against her.  Victoria is from Venezuela and when she returned to her homeland after high school graduation the political and economic turmoil she faced made college look impossible.  Tom Clark of the Aurora Sunrise Club joined Victoria for this week’s Rotary program and explained that a group from their club decided to help her return to the area to pursue an Associate’s degree from Waubonsee Community College and then enroll in Aurora University.

 

According to Clark, Victoria’s extended Rotary family finds inspiration from her enthusiasm and positive personality as they help her deal with absence from her family and friends in Venezuela. During her time at Waubonsee College, she served as a Student Ambassador contacting prospective students and helping with campus tours.  She helped with a community home rehab project and even gave up her 2019 Spring Break time to assist with Hurricane Harvey recovery efforts.  She graduated last year near the top of her class and is now pursuing a Bachelor’s degree with a major in biology and heath science. 

 

Because her student visa limits her employment opportunities, a special charitable foundation fund was created to accept monetary donations.  A tax-deductible gift may be made payable to:

 

CHASE THE MOON (indicate “The Victoria Fund” in your check’s memo field)

 

Mail to:

THE VICTORIA FUND

P.O. BOX 5352

AURORA, IL 60507

Our speaker this week will be a representative from DeKalb County Forest Preserve District, with an update on their activities and programs.

 

Following is our schedule of upcoming speakers/presentations:

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Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.

 

 

The first governmental recognition came through municipal ordinances passed in 1885 and 1886. From these, a movement developed to secure state legislation. The first state bill was introduced into the New York legislature, but the first to become law was passed by Oregon on February 21, 1887. During 1887, four more states – Colorado, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York – created the Labor Day holiday by legislative enactment. By the end of the decade Connecticut, Nebraska, and Pennsylvania had followed suit. By 1894, 23 more states had adopted the holiday, and on June 28, 1894, Congress passed an act making the first Monday in September of each year a legal holiday in the District of Columbia and the territories.

 

 

More than a century after the first Labor Day observance, there is still some doubt as to who first proposed the holiday for workers.

 

Some records show that Peter J. McGuire, general secretary of the Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners and a co-founder of the American Federation of Labor, was first in suggesting a day to honor those "who from rude nature have delved and carved all the grandeur we behold."

 

But Peter McGuire's place in Labor Day history has not gone unchallenged. Many believe that Matthew Maguire, a machinist, not Peter McGuire, founded the holiday. Recent research seems to support the contention that Matthew Maguire, later the secretary of Local 344 of the International Association of Machinists in Paterson, N.J., proposed the holiday in 1882 while serving as secretary of the Central Labor Union in New York. What is clear is that the Central Labor Union adopted a Labor Day proposal and appointed a committee to plan a demonstration and picnic.

 

 

The first Labor Day holiday was celebrated on Tuesday, September 5, 1882, in New York City, in accordance with the plans of the Central Labor Union. The Central Labor Union held its second Labor Day holiday just a year later, on September 5, 1883.

 

By 1894, 23 more states had adopted the holiday, and on June 28, 1894, President Grover Cleveland signed a law making the first Monday in September of each year a national holiday.

 

 

The form that the observance and celebration of Labor Day should take was outlined in the first proposal of the holiday — a street parade to exhibit to the public "the strength and esprit de corps of the trade and labor organizations" of the community, followed by a festival for the recreation and amusement of the workers and their families. This became the pattern for the celebrations of Labor Day. Speeches by prominent men and women were introduced later, as more emphasis was placed upon the economic and civic significance of the holiday. Still later, by a resolution of the American Federation of Labor convention of 1909, the Sunday preceding Labor Day was adopted as Labor Sunday and dedicated to the spiritual and educational aspects of the labor movement.

 

The character of the Labor Day celebration has changed in recent years, especially in large industrial centers where mass displays and huge parades have proved a problem. This change, however, is more a shift in emphasis and medium of expression. Labor Day addresses by leading union officials, industrialists, educators, clerics, and government officials are given wide coverage in newspapers, radio, and television.

 

The vital force of labor added materially to the highest standard of living and the greatest production the world has ever known and has brought us closer to the realization of our traditional ideals of economic and political democracy. It is appropriate, therefore, that the nation pays tribute on Labor Day to the creator of so much of the nation's strength, freedom, and leadership – the American worker.