LOS ANGELES, Jan. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Southern
California Gas Co. (SoCalGas) & The Midnight Mission today
announced SoCalGas employees' contribution of nearly $23,000 to The Midnight Mission in support of its
programs. SoCalGas presented a check to The Midnight Mission on
January 16 in recognition of the
grant. In addition to the grant, SoCalGas employees will ring in
the new year by continuing their tradition of volunteering at The
Midnight Mission. For the last six years, SoCalGas employees have
traveled to the shelter, located in the heart of Skid Row, every
Friday to volunteer and support the shelter's mission. SoCalGas
employee, Marco Tachiquin, spreads
awareness of the volunteer opportunity among employees and has led
the effort for the last six years.
"SoCalGas recognizes the important work The Midnight Mission is
doing within the Los Angeles
community in helping those in need to get back on track, and we are
committed to assisting this organization in whatever way we can,"
said Jawaad Malik, Vice President of
Gas Acquisition at SoCalGas. "We believe that it is important to
support our most vulnerable friends and neighbors, and we are
thrilled not only to provide this grant to The Midnight Mission but
also to be a part of their organization through our volunteer
work."
From 2016 to 2019, SoCalGas employees have volunteered nearly
75,000 hours of their time and given over $3.2 million through payroll deductions to
community organizations. SoCalGas has contributed over six thousand
logged volunteer hours to The Midnight Mission since 2014 with over
1,300 volunteers.
The Midnight Mission, founded in 1914, is a comprehensive
homeless shelter and homeless services provider that offers a path
to self-sufficiency for men, women, and children experiencing
homelessness in Los Angeles. The
organization offers the structure and the resources that people
experiencing homelessness need to truly improve their lives.
Gas Company employee Marco
Tachiquin, a project manager in the Pipeline Safety
Enhancement department, leads the volunteer effort each Friday and
has done so since 2014. The company's gas acquisition department
has also begun organizing clothing auctions to raise money for The
Midnight Mission and started the employee grant for the non-profit,
which over the years has expanded to the entire gas company.
"This is an effort that is very important to me," said
Marco Tachiquin. "I feel that it is
my responsibility to help make a difference in someone's life
because I'm lucky enough to be able to. Giving up a couple of hours
each week is the least I can do to make a difference, and I am
grateful to all of the SoCalGas employees who show up each week and
have done so for the past six years. In numbers, we make a much
bigger impact – it's a team effort."
"Gratitude in action can help create bridges to significant
transformation," said Midnight Mission President & CEO
Mike Arnold. "We are so proud
to work with the extraordinary employees from SoCalGas who
volunteer with us year-round, supporting our basic needs
programming and helping us to provide pathways to self-sufficiency
to those experiencing the tragedy of homelessness. This grant will
have an incredible impact on our organization and the thousands of
individuals and families we serve each day, many of whom are still
living on our streets, hungry and without a home. We are deeply
grateful for our partnership with SoCalGas."
Please see photos from the check presentation event here.
About The Midnight Mission
Founded in 1914, The Midnight Mission offers paths to
self-sufficiency to men, women and children who have lost
direction. Our emergency services and 12-step recovery, family
living, job training, education and workforce development programs
offer a compassionate bridge to achieve and maintain healthy,
productive lives. We remove obstacles and provide the
accountability and structure that people who are experiencing
homelessness need to be productive in their communities.
Our conviction and commitment to their success define
us. For additional information, please visit
www.midnightmission.org.
About SoCalGas
Headquartered in Los Angeles, SoCalGas® is
the largest gas distribution utility in the
United States. SoCalGas delivers
affordable, reliable, clean and increasingly renewable gas service
to 21.8 million customers across 24,000 square miles of
Central and Southern California, where more than 90 percent of
residents use gas for heating, hot water, cooking, drying clothes
or other uses. Gas delivered through the company's pipelines also
plays a key role in providing electricity to Californians—
about 45 percent of electric power generated in the state
comes from gas-fired power plants.
SoCalGas' vision is to be the cleanest gas utility in
North America, delivering
affordable and increasingly renewable energy to its customers. In
support of that vision, SoCalGas is committed to replacing 20
percent of its traditional gas supply with renewable gas (RNG) by
2030. Renewable gas is made from waste created by dairy farms,
landfills and wastewater treatment plants. SoCalGas is also
committed to investing in its gas system infrastructure while
keeping bills affordable for our customers. From 2014 through 2018,
the company invested nearly $6.5 billion to upgrade and
modernize its gas system to enhance safety and reliability.
SoCalGas is a subsidiary of Sempra Energy (NYSE: SRE), an
energy services holding company based in San Diego. For more
information visit socalgas.com/newsroom or connect with
SoCalGas
on Twitter (@SoCalGas), Instagram (@SoCalGas)
and Facebook.
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SOURCE Southern California Gas Company