John Bowers Proud Legacy: Bringing the ILA Together With The Hole In the Wall Gang Camp; Union Has Raised Over $2.5 Million To Help Send Hundreds of Children with Cancer and Other Life Threatening Illnesses to Special Camp in Ashford Connecticut

Hundreds of children with cancer and other life threatening illnesses received a large dose of joy and happiness in their lives when they attended the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp in Ashford, Connecticut. An important part of John Bowers' legacy is his getting the ILA involved with the camp and helping raise over $2.5 million. A dock located at the Ashford, Connecticut site where campers launch boats and canoes is named for John Bowers. Camp founder Paul Newman met with John Bowers numerous times over the years and always thanked him and the ILA for their contributions to the camp.

It was in 1992 that John Bowers asked the ILA's Executive Council and ACD's Executive Board to adopt Paul Newman's camp for children with cancer and other life threatening illnesses as the ILA's own main charity. The ILA's Children's Fund was created and, almost immediately, the rank-and-file membership of the ILA demonstrated extraordinary generosity. Each year since 1992, the ILA has been able to donate upwards of $100,000 and the recent 18th Annual ILA Children's Fund Golf Tournament brought the ILA's total to well over $2.5 million.