The Firestone Textiles Em
ployees’ Community Fund has been
established to consolidate all an
nual drives for charitable organi
zations into one. The first consoli
dated drive, now underway, asks
and needs your support.
NEWS
GASTONIA
The announcement of Firestone
college or university scholarships
to be awarded annually to 15
outstanding sons and daughters of
Firestone Employees means that
your son or daughter may be eli
gible to compete in a most gen
erous scholarship award contest.
Volume ii
GASTONIA, N. C., JANUARY 20, 1953
NO. 2
Employees’
Charities Fund
Drive Started
A New and consolidated method
soliciting funds for charities
Sets its first tryout at Firestone
^xtiles starting on January 19,
continuing- through January
Similar drives for funds from
‘Employees will be conducted an-
^Ually, hereafter, within the plant.
, ® funds collected will go into
6 newly formed Firestone Tex-
Employees’ Community Fund
0 be divided among the various
aritable organizations heretofore
^^Pported through individual
drives.
General Superintendent Nelson
Vessel! will head up the drive this
assisted by representatives
each department and shift
0 will canvas each employee dur-
S this consolidated drive. Em-
yees will be asked to contribute
£ generously to the consolidated
tr'K would normally con-
gj to the various charities if
Co drives for each one were
as has been the method
^ in prior years,
ish ^®P^‘®sentatives will be furn-
th ^ pledge cards on which
®y'^Ployee can specify which
are to benefit from his
and to what extent,
cha has no particular
to mind which he wishes
Sim others listed, he may
P'y TYlnlri^ « 1,1 l_„j-
Uox
th,
Plo
as
y niake a blanket contribu-
v-ue be prorated among
charities listed in pro-
to the total amount pledg-
charity by the plant as a
has ^ event the employee
Hot a legitimate charity
^ J^eady listed on the card, he
^ay
lar
the name of that
Wajj^ the amount he
coijj. ^ receive. There are, of
s ^®^^y more national chari-
can be conveniently listed
les
GENERAL Superintendent
Nelson Kessell, above, will serve
as chairman of the first annual
drive for funds for the recently
established “Firestone Textiles
Employees’ Community Fund”.
He will be assisted in the drive,
starting January 19, by commit
teemen in each department.
on one card; however, most of the
large charities and all of the chari
ties Firestone Textiles has support
ed in the past with plant-wide
drives are listed on the pledge card.
There are eight national chari
table organizations listed on the
pledge card. These are The Salva
tion Army, The Cancer Fund, The
American Red Cross, Boy Scouts of
America, The March of Dimes, Girl
Scouts, The Heart Foundation, and
the U. S. 0. Following these is the
line on which any other recognized
national charitable organization
may be written in. An example of
this would be the Tuberculosis
Fund; another. Father Flanigan’s
Boys Town, etc.
* * *
IN accepting chairmanship of
tht 1953 consolidated drive for
funds, Mr. Kessell points out that
all concerned should benefit under
the new plan. Some of the advan
tages to employees according to
Mr. Kessell are (1) Convenience of
having to make but one donation
to charity a year instead of a half
dozen or more as was the practice
previously, (2) payroll deduction
(Continued On Page 4)
(Sample Pledge Card)
COMMUNITY FUND CAMPAIGN FOR
firestone textiles employees
Dept - Shift
sto ^ to contribute the amount of $ to Fire-
Community Fund. I further authorize the Company to take
?!
(Not less than $1.00 per pay period) each week
pay until the total amount pledged has been collected,
ate
Signed
foil
^ ^ant my contribution for the above amount distributed as
0\vg.
^tion
Ca
Army $ Heart Foundation
ancei-
F’und
r,
'^voss
U. S. 0.
others
$-
Scouts $
Dimes $ ^
$ $
P^o-rate my contribution among all agencies listed
Firestone Scholarships Established For
Outstanding Employees’ Sons and Daughters
A SCHOLARSHIP AWARD PROGRAM for sons and daughters of employees of The Firestone
Tire & Rubber Company throughout the United States was announced recently by Harvey S. Firestone, Jr.,
Chairman of the Firestone Company.
Each scholarship award will pay the cost of full tuition, fees and books and will offer a contribution
to living expenses. Fifteen Firestone Scholarships will be awarded each year to high school graduates so
that, after the first four years, the program will be financing the college education of 60 students
annually.
— O Winners of Firestone Scholar
ships may attend any accredited
college or university and will be
given financial aid until they re
ceive a college degree, providing
they maintain a satisfactory
record.
Bloodmobile Receives Blood From 71
Firestone Textiles Employee-Donors
SEVENTY-ONE employees gave
blood to the Red Cross Bloodmobile
during its visit to West Gastonia
on Wednesday, January 7. Head
quarters for the Bloodmobile was
the Loray Baptist Church. Volun
teers from the various churches in
the community worked with regu
lar Red Cross staff members as
they processed and received blood
from a total of 94 donors from
West Gastonia.
Donors from Firestone Textiles
were:
Ernest S. Harris, Luther R.
Foy, Cole L. Whitaker, Mrs. Dell
Morgan, Mrs. Hazel Nolen, James
M. Cooper, Mrs. Clayton Wilson,
Miss Martha Kendrick, Alvin V.
Riley, Thomas W. Turner, John S.
Mitchell, Ernest E. Austin, Hubert
A. Brown, James A. Buchanan,
James D. Moss, Lewis R. Connor,
Orville K. Forrester, Thomas B.
Ipock, Jr., Mrs. Maude Johnson,
Alfred A. Caskey, William G.
Ginn.
Lennel Keenum, Carmon F. Rob
inson, Phelmer Barrett, Milligan
L. Ramsey, Clinton Guffey, John
R. Fender, Hurley W. Brooks, Ro
land E. Conrad, Harry J. Callahan,
Edwin 0. Broadway, Ed S. Foy,
Mrs. Verdie M. Smith, Mrs. Annie
M. Whitfield, Sidney R. Davis,
Arnold Grindle, Thurman Davis,
Mrs. Lucille Baker, Charlie M.
Plyler, Jack A. Rector, Frank E.
Capps, Luther C. Brown.
Mrs. Tommy Tompkins, Thurman
L. Clark, Archie Eugene Deal, Eu
gene F. Finney, Esther H. Lane,
Leroy L. Posey, Horace Helms,
Emmer Stroupe, Ruby Chapman,
Gladys Nygard,. Minnie Kilby, Nell
Pursley, Howard Carson, Nell Rob
inson, L. H. Panther, Margaret
Spencer, Chester Tate, Tommy
Tompkins.
Horace Hughes, Thor Giles,
Viola McCurry, Mabel Thomas, Lyn
Atkinson, Faye Ross, Vina Robin
son, Pauline Willard, Cramer
Little, James Price, Hobart T.
Aldridge.
TWISTER TENDER PHELMER BARRETT was one of seventy-
one Firestone donors of blood to the Red Cross at the Loray Baptist
Church Bloodmobile headquarters on January 7. He has given a
total of 12 pints of blood to the Red Cross since the Bloodmobile
program started several years ago.
William Cosey's Daughter
Killed In Auto Accident
THE many friends of Mr. and
Mrs. William Cosey, iboth long time
employees in the Carding and
Twisting Departments respectively,
express sympathy upon the passing
of the Coseys’ daughter, Mrs.
Estelle Dean of Durham, who lost
her life in an automobile accident
Friday, January 9 near Durham.
Mrs. Dean was driving alone at the
time of the accident. She is surviv
ed by her husband, Riley Dean,
and a son, William Lee.
Employees Raise $1,000
For Ailing Hardy Child
A gi’and total of $1,033.78 was
collected from employees for the
benefit of the much hospitalized
infant child of Cord Weaver Roy
Hardy, The child became the object
of community-wide attention when
its plight was publicized. Hovering
between life and death for several
months, the child’s illness has
baffled the best doctors in North
Carolina. '
TO be eligible for a Firestone
Scholarship, a student must be in
the upper half of his class and be
the son or daughter of a Firestone
employee who, as of June 1, 1953,
has completed five years of ser
vice for the Company, or whose
parent had more than five years
of service with the Company at
the time of death or retirement.
A Firestone Scholarship Com
mittee will be appointed outside of
the Firestone organization to re
view and pas.\i on all applications.
In a booklet explaining the
scholarship program, Mr. Fire
stone stated:
“In the interest of providing fi
nancial assistance to worthy sons
and daughters of Firestone em
ployees who seek a college educa
tion, a scholarship fund has been
set up by The Firestone Tire &
Rubber Company.
“The annual income from this
fund will provide enough money
to pay for full tuition, academic
fees, textbooks, and a substantial
part of the living costs of 15 new
students each year. After four
years the fund will be provided
support for 60 students annually.
(Continued On Page 4)
Fishing Contest
Results For '52
Mason Strickland and George
Honeycutt Win Grand Prize.
Second Shift
Large Mouth Bass—4 pounds 2
ounces—Mason Strickland
Carp—5 pounds—Ethel Whitt
Catfish—1 pound 8 ounces—Ethel
Whitt
Crappie—1 pound 8 ounces—Mason
Strickland
First and Third Shift
Large Mouth Bass—5 pounds 11
ounces—George Honeycutt
Catfish—4 pounds 1 ounce—Payton
Lewis
Carp—10 pounds 12 ounces— H. L.
J enkins
Crappie—1 pound 10 ounces—M. F.
Goins
OTHER ENTRIES
Second Shift
Black Bass—3 pounds 9 ounces—
Artie Ammons
Crappie—14 ounces—W. N. Laws
First and Third Shift
Bass—5 pounds—James Truesdale