On Saturday, October 10, 115 DFW IBMers gathered at Cavanaugh Flight Museum in Addison, Texas, a suburb of Dallas, for a great evening of food, drink and reminiscing. 

Cavanaugh Flight Museum (CFM) (cavanaughflightmuseum.com) is home to one of the world’s finest collections of rare, historic aircraft from WWI, WWII, Korea, and Vietnam era aviation. In contrast to many of the ‘silent’ artifacts found in many other aviation museums, CFM has over 50 aircraft and approximately 80% of them are in flyable condition. For our Reunion on October 10th, CFM opened up their hangars and ramp areas for close-up touring and picture-taking. Jeff Wallach, a retired IBMer and active, flying member of the Museum, and other volunteers provided personalized tours of these fascinating aircraft and answered questions on their history. 

Special thanks also go to the following for their assistance in making the evening a great success: B.J. Kempf, Etaugh Francis, Tom Dillon, Paul Workman and Jack Atkinson. Wendy Stoneman, Cavanaugh Development & Marketing Director, provided excellent guidance in arranging for and hosting the group, and a great time was had by all!

All: This note came from the cousin of a friend of mine and I though it might warm your hearts to know about a great Texas organization helping employees affected by the recent hurricane. I’m sure there are many other wonderful stories and I would love to hear about and publish them. Susan

I just wanted to share with you how great TI has been this week.

On Monday they had a truckload of ice and another truck full of bottled water on-site to give to the employees who work here. On Thursday gasoline was scarce, so they brought in a tanker truck and gave everyone who needed it 10 gallons of gas for free each day. All three of these things are still being offered. Also, for those who still don’t have power, we have a laundry service that will do 1 bag of laundry a day and return it within two days, and a battery giveaway for flashlights. All of these things are free for those who need them.

Our supervisors ask each employee every day what their needs are and tries to make sure those needs are met. They have created a network, where people bring in unneeded supplies to other employees who are out of supplies. There is also a loaner program for people to bring in generators and chainsaws, if you no longer need them, to loan to other employees who do need them. I brought our generator in today to make it available for loaning out.

The company is also giving each Stafford site employee $500 to help with incidentals. We, like many large companies, have contract employees that do not work directly for Texas Instruments. All of the above benefits have been extended to contract employees as well as TI employees. This includes the $500 cash allotment.

Our management is helping us directly. I am so proud to work for such a generous company. They really do care about their employees.

Red Cross Help Just Beginning for Hurricane Victims

Monday, September 15, 2008—The American Red Cross has thousands of staff on the ground in Texas and Louisiana, offering shelter, food, and comfort to the millions of people affected by Hurricane Ike.

In Texas, more than 2,000 Red Cross disaster workers saw more than 17,000 people seek refuge in 144 shelters. Throughout the Lone Star State, Red Cross has served more than 130,000 meals and snacks to people displaced by the storm.

In Louisiana, almost 2,000 people were provided a safe haven in 19 shelters. About 1,900 Red Cross disaster workers have served more than one million meals and snacks to those feeling the affects of not only Hurricane Ike, but those still trying to recover from Hurricane Gustav.

“We will be opening more shelters for people who can’t return to their homes,” said Joe Becker, Senior Vice President of Disaster Services for the Red Cross, “When local authorities give the okay, our vehicles will bring food, water, and cleaning supplies into communities where people are returning to their homes.”

The Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund is depleted. In the interim, the Red Cross is borrowing money to cover the costs of the hurricanes of 2008, yet they have not cut any of their service delivery to disaster victims and do not expect to do so.

About the American Red Cross:

All American Red Cross disaster assistance is free, made possible by voluntary donations of time and money from the American people. You can help the victims of thousands of disasters across the country each year, disasters like the Hurricanes of 2008, by making a financial gift to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund, which enables the Red Cross to provide shelter, food, counseling and other assistance to victims of disaster. The American Red Cross honors donor intent. If you wish to designate your donation to a specific disaster please do so at the time of your donation. Call 1-800-REDCROSS or 1-800-257-7575 (Spanish). Contributions to the Disaster Relief Fund may be sent to your local American Red Cross chapter or to the American Red Cross, P. O. Box 37243, Washington, DC 20013. Internet users can make a secure online contribution by visiting www.redcross.org.