Activities are part of Project C, company's
continuing commitment to customers and communities
NEW
YORK, Sept. 16, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Today,
National Grid marks the first anniversary of its Project C
initiative with a Day of Service as more than 2,000 employees make
positive impacts by donating their time at more than 200 volunteer
events in communities across the company's 26,000-square-mile
New York service area.
With a focus on strengthening communities and making a
difference today and every day, volunteer efforts are taking place
at food banks, senior centers and veterans' service facilities. In
addition, National Grid employees are building homes through
Habitat for Humanity and beds for children in underserved areas,
cleaning up and landscaping neighborhoods and parks, providing
various levels of assistance at nonprofits, and more.
Project C is National Grid's Community Commitment
to:
- Build a better future by Connecting our communities
to clean and sustainable energy.
- Care for our neighborhoods and their
revitalization.
- Compassionately address the challenges our
customers face, including environmental justice and social
equity.
- Create the workforce that will help build
New York's clean energy delivery
system.
- Collaborate with our customers, partners,
stakeholders and so many others to deliver the clean, fair,
resilient and affordable energy future.
Since launching Project C in September
2021, National Grid has supported 9,000 businesses, launched
100 community partnerships, planted 1,700 trees, trained 1,400
workers to grow the clean energy workforce, and adopted 20 parks to
revitalize gathering spaces. In addition, employees have
volunteered more than 15,000 hours in their New York communities over the last year.
"From training clean energy workers to aiding local businesses,
the past year has been filled with love and support for our
New York communities," said
Rudy Wynter, National Grid's
New York president. "Thanks to the
hard work of our employee volunteers, partners, and other
stakeholders, we have already accomplished so much. There is more
work to be done, and we are more motivated than ever to continue to
deliver for our customers and our communities." Wynter shares more
about Project C's impact in this short video.
Dedicated groups of National Grid employees spent months
planning and partnering with nonprofit organizations, schools,
community centers, parks and other groups to deliver the activities
that are taking place today across the company's New York footprint.
In Western New York:
Employees are conducting maintenance, landscaping and painting at
various sites across the region. This includes delivering Meals on
Wheels in Erie and Niagara counties. In Genesee County, volunteers will prepare soil,
rototill, shovel and rake as they build a community garden in
Batavia, with a goal to grow
vegetables to be used by the Salvation Army and the community. In
Erie County, volunteers will build
beds at Sleep in Heavenly Peace, and at two separate Buffalo sites,
employees will distribute backpacks, clothing and packages of
personal care items. In Niagara
County, volunteers will serve lunches at Heart, Love and
Soul Food Pantry. Employees also are set to return to homeless
shelter Genesis House of Olean,
where their work to upgrade that facility will continue.
"For the second year in a row, National Grid will volunteer at
the Genesis House of Olean to help
our residents have a nicer place to stay," said Genesis House
Program Manager Jim Swatt. "Last
year these wonderful volunteers painted two rooms for residents and
this year they'll paint the upstairs hallway. We at the Genesis
house thank them for their kindness and dedication to helping make
a better life for Olean's homeless
population."
In Central New York:
Local community leaders will unveil a series of murals painted by
local artist Ally Walker at
Syracuse's Schiller Park. The
murals celebrate the generations of new Americans who have
populated the surrounding neighborhoods for more than 100 years.
Company volunteers also will conduct a cleanup and tree planting at
Schiller Park. Additional Central New York Day of Service
activities include working with A Tiny Home for Good on two
different construction projects to address homelessness in
Syracuse, packaging non-perishable
food to help fight food insecurity across the region, and
beautification projects at Morningside Cultural Trails and Upper
Onondaga Park in Syracuse, Fall
Island Park in Potsdam, Higley
Flow State Park in Colton and the
Utica Zoo. National Grid employees also will prepare and serve food
at local shelters and for Meals on Wheels, deliver property
improvement projects at local senior living facilities, and work on
property maintenance projects at a veterans organization.
"National Grid has been a mainstay in the Central New York community for decades," said
Lynn Hy, chief development officer
for the Food Bank of Central New
York. "Food Bank of Central New
York is proud to partner with National Grid throughout the
year on food security initiatives throughout central and northern
New York. From monthly Project C
volunteer activities to food and fund drives initiated by
employees, National Grid is helping to make a difference in the
lives of neighbors in our community in partnership with the Food
Bank."
In Eastern New York:
National Grid's Schenectady
headquarters location on Broadway will include career exploration
opportunities for students from several regional educational
programs including: BOCES, the Schenectady SEAT Center, Girls,
Inc., Northern Rivers and the Schenectady School District. Students will
explore career paths in electric and gas operations, engineering,
design, customer and community engagement and more.
"We value our partnership with National Grid and for the
networking and other opportunities that they provide to our
students, who learn about careers available to them through events
like the Day of Service," said Capital Region BOCES Senior
Executive Officer Joseph P. Dragone,
Ph.D.
In Troy, at Frear Park,
volunteers will scrape, paint and clean up the Oakwood Avenue Park
entrance pagoda and clean up the nature trail and help build a new
bog bridge. In Queensbury,
employees will support the local land conservancy by building a new
walking trail. Additional projects will support local community
agencies including: the Mohawk Hudson Humane Society, Catholic
Charities, the Schenectady Community Action Council, Patroon Land
Farm, Habitat for Humanity, Bring On The Spectrum and others.
In New York City:
Employees are volunteering at various park locations to help clean
up, care for flower beds, plant trees, paint a skate park and other
surfaces, including: an It's My Park Project at Marine Park in
Brooklyn, general maintenance at
Flushing Meadow Park in Queens,
and the Bay Street Corridor on Staten
Island. In addition, employees will be volunteering their
time at food banks, senior centers, holding virtual career panel
discussions in high schools, reading books to children at a YMCA
after school program, and preparing personal hygiene kits for
shelters.
On Long Island:
Employees will be volunteering for a Habitat for Humanity house
build, and gardening and maintenance projects at the United
Veterans Beacon House, which assists veterans and veteran families.
Additional volunteer events include hosting career panel
discussions at high schools, donating personal hygiene kits to
those in need, assembling American Red Cross emergency kits,
visiting senior centers, bathing and walking dogs for America's
VetDogs, delivering food to local food pantries and various park
cleanups.
"The Day of Service is a microcosm of our year-round efforts,"
Wynter said. "We're inspired by the partners who we work with, by
their resilience and their resourcefulness. Project C is about
being present, engaged and driving positive impact in the
communities and neighborhoods where our customers live, work and
play. It's reflected on days like today and in the hundreds of
other projects our employees commit to throughout the year.
This is in our DNA. This is who we are and I am filled with pride
every time someone walks up to me and says, 'Thank you, National
Grid.'"
As part of the company's Responsible Business Charter, National
Grid has committed to amassing 500,000 volunteer hours by 2030. In
addition, across New York state,
the company contributes more than $5
million annually to community-based organizations through
our Corporate Citizenship efforts, including National Grid
Foundation. Employees who are unable to volunteer have been
encouraged to consider an act of kindness on Sept. 16. This may include making a difference
for someone by finding a local organization that would accept
donations of books, food or clothing. Another recommendation
includes donating blood on that day.
Along with volunteerism, Project C focuses on four key
areas: clean energy and sustainability; workforce development;
neighborhood investment and community engagement; and environmental
justice and social equity. The initiative is funded by National
Grid shareholders.
Click here for more about National Grid's Project C.
About National Grid
National Grid (NYSE: NGG) is an electricity, natural gas, and
clean energy delivery company serving more than 20 million people
through our networks in New York
and Massachusetts. National Grid
is transforming our electricity and natural gas networks with
smarter, cleaner, and more resilient energy solutions to meet the
goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
For more information, please visit our website,
follow us on Twitter, watch us on YouTube,
friend us on Facebook, and find our photos
on Instagram.
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SOURCE National Grid