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Social activism is hitting record levels across the Alliance, and that’s a good thing.<br />
The valuable donation of time, money, and sweat equity by <strong>IATSE</strong> members betters the lives<br />
of those less fortunate and lets communities know: working families are here to help.<br />
BY DAVID GEFFNER<br />
Two years ago, after Kevin Cheatham walked out of Local 479 President Ray Brown’s office as the first Chairman<br />
of a newly formed Young Workers Committee, the Atlanta, GA-based grip knew he wanted to create an<br />
event that would excite the younger members of the Local, and help draw them into the surging spirit of activism<br />
International President Matthew Loeb had outlined.<br />
“The first thing you think of with activism,” recalls Cheatham,<br />
who is currently working on AMC’s long-running hit series,<br />
The Walking Dead, “is on the political level – phone banks, get<br />
out the vote drives, anything to help elect pro-labor candidates,<br />
which ultimately leads to more jobs and better working conditions<br />
for the membership. But Local 479 has thousands of members,<br />
and our political activity is very strong. In fact, we are currently<br />
forming a PAC that will be active in January [2018]. For<br />
this new committee, I thought we needed an event that would<br />
impact the community we live and work in on a social level.”<br />
When Co-Chair of Local 479’s Young Workers Committee<br />
Hilary Smiley brought the idea of a kickball tournament to the<br />
table, Cheatham, along with Recording Secretary Brian Carroll<br />
(who tragically passed away in early 2017) and Treasurer Glenn<br />
Peison knew they had a match.<br />
“Who doesn’t love kickball?” Cheatham laughs. “It takes everyone<br />
back to their childhoods; it’s a competitive, athletic game<br />
that can satisfy every level of interest.”<br />
The first year of the event was 2015 (Local 479 recently held<br />
its 3rd Annual Film Community Charity Kickball Tournament)<br />
and the beneficiary charity was Global Village Project, a school<br />
for refugee girls in nearby Decatur that Smiley had already<br />
worked with via her parents’ church.<br />
“It worked out great and we decided, moving forward,”<br />
Cheatham continues, “that we would poll the members each year<br />
for ideas with the following two criteria: the charity had to be<br />
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