Pioneers, a Volunteer Network

The association was organized in Boston in November 1911 by 246 pioneers active in the early days of telephony,[1] including Alexander Graham Bell who received membership card No.

[2][3] Pioneers volunteer more than ten million hours annually responding to the individual needs of their communities throughout the United States and Canada.

The need to communicate gave impetus to Alexander Graham Bell, whose fascination was bolstered by his concern for those whose hearing was impaired or non-existent.

Once completed, the list was presented to Theodore N. Vail, then president of AT&T, who concurred in the plans and suggested an annual gathering of the group.

The first meeting of the fledgling Telephone Pioneers of America convened on November 1 and 2, 1911, at the Hotel Somerset in Boston,[1] where Bell signed as the first charter member and Vail, who would serve for nine years, was elected the organization's first president.

The service requirement was gradually reduced over time and today, any employee of one of the organization's sponsor companies can become a member on the first day of employment.

Those who wrote the original Pioneers purpose were forward thinking in adding that it would also encourage "such other meritorious objects consistent with the foregoing as may be desirable."

Pioneers reach out help our neighbors in need in times of crisis from stocking food pantries to responding when natural disasters strike by providing supplies and shelter.

The environmental and beautification initiatives have included planting trees, bushes and flowers native to the local environment, picking up litter along roads, beaches, and parks, recycling items such as phone books, cell phones and printer cartridges, educating school-aged children on how to reduce, reuse and recycle, and refurbishing and donating used computers.

for soldier's families, collecting supplies for comfort kits including toiletries, games, snacks, reading material, phone cards, etc.

After landing at Quebec City on 1 August 1870, the Bells boarded a train to Montreal and later to Paris, Ontario, to stay at the parsonage of the Reverend Thomas Philip Henderson, a Baptist minister and close family friend who likely went to school with Melville in Scotland.

In September 1877 the Bells' installed a 51⁄4 km (31⁄4 mile) telephone line from their homestead to connect to Reverend Henderson's house in downtown Brantford.

Henderson later moved to join the Bell Telephone Company of Canada at their Montreal headquarters, where he became their purchasing agent and storekeeper until his death in 1887.