Elected officials and labor leaders join union members for a group photo after the Heat’s On 2025 welcome breakfast.
Local Pipefitters unions kick off their Heat’s On service day each year with a breakfast buffet in the conference room of a hotel in Roseville. So many union volunteers showed up this year that some had to eat in the lobby.
It was as big a turnout as anyone in St. Paul Pipefitters Local 455 or Minneapolis Local 539 could remember seeing since Project Heat’s On got started in 1986, and that’s good news for the low-income, senior and disabled homeowners who received furnace maintenance and repairs at no cost Oct. 4.
Union volunteers provided service to homeowners identified by two Community Action Partnership agencies. Union contractors, members of the Minnesota Mechanical Contractors Association, covered the cost of materials needed for the repairs.
In addition to inspecting homeowners’ furnaces, union members checked for dangerous heat-related health conditions and replaced smoke and carbon-monoxide detectors.
Local 455 apprentices Benjamin Mullin (L) and Adam Stehr inspect the boiler at a home in St. Paul’s Frogtown neighborhood.
Union apprentices helped boost turnout for Heat’s On this year. Adam Stehr and Benjamin Mullin, first-year apprentices with Local 455 who paired up this year, said the service day offered an opportunity to hone their skills while giving back to the community.
“For me, it’s an opportunity to learn a little bit,” said Stehr, whose employer works in building and construction. “Working with someone on the service side, it’s cool to get out and see different things. In piping there are so many routes.”
Mullin does work for a commercial and residential service contractor, and he walked Stehr through the steps of inspecting the boiler of a house in St. Paul’s Frogtown neighborhood, their first of two service calls planned that day.
“Something I was always taught was it costs nothing to be kind, and you should look for ways to help others in the community,” Mullin said. “That’s what this day is all about.”
Heat’s On has given back over $4 million in volunteer work hours and repairs over the last four decades.
– Michael Moore, Union Advocate editor
Union Advocate 