Chesapeake Kicks Off Summer of Giving Back to Ohio
Written by Anne Carto
Chesapeake Energy kicked off this summer’s Operation Blue with three great community service events throughout their operating area. Operation Blue is an annual campaign in which Chesapeake employees volunteer for four hours of company time. The project started back in 2009 as part of the company’s H.E.L.P. (Helping Organize Local Progress) Initiative to commemorate the company’s 20th anniversary. In just five weeks, employees were challenged to perform 20,000 service hours. The challenge was completed with more than 26,000 hours.
Last year, Chesapeake employees volunteered more than 38,000 hours to serve 477 nonprofit organizations around the country. This summer, Ohio’s Chesapeake team is stepping up and volunteering for a wide range of community projects. First, 17 employees from Chesapeake affiliate Performance Technologies cleaned up roads near Louisville as a part of the Ohio Department of Transportation’s Adopt-A-Highway program. The project will continue as a two-year program in which Performance Technologies’ employees will clean a 1.5 mile stretch of road, four times per year.
Next up, Energy In Depth was on site while Chesapeake employees helped build three homes in Carrollton as part of Habitat for Humanity of Greater Stark & Carroll Counties. Volunteers installed siding and drywall, painted, and landscaped around the three homes.
We were able to talk to two employees about their experience with Operation Blue:
“I’m always looking for opportunities to give back to the communities that we’re working in and I do a lot of work here in Carroll County, so I was more than happy to come out here and give back to people who need help”—Jeff Emmons (0:21)
“Today we’re giving back to the community. A lot of us are local, I’m from about a half hour from here in Dover. It’s a great opportunity to give back to the area, especially being local, and the communities we work in every day.”—Matt Mroczkowski (0:18)
Later in June, Chesapeake affiliate, Hodges Trucking, gave back to the younger community of Carrollton by spending three days cleaning up Ann Green Memorial Park. They weeded and painted at the ball field, spread gravel to expand the parking lot, painted playground equipment, and updated some buildings with paint and siding.
All three projects will leave a lasting impression on Carroll and Stark counties. Since Chesapeake came to Ohio they’ve shown they are a good neighbor through various efforts. Along with multiple summers of Operation Blue, the company has donated vehicles to law enforcement agencies in Columbiana and Carroll counties, provided storm relief to Guernsey County, and partner DPS Penn donated $5,000 to the Coat Closet in Belmont, keeping them from going out of business. The organization provides free winter coats to infants, children, and even adults.
Chesapeake’s continued efforts to improve the lives of Ohioans through community service, job creation, and providing domestic energy is certainly a story worth telling, as well as a reflection of the entire industry’s willingness to give back to the Ohio communities in which it operates.
Article written by Anne Carto for Energy in Depth. Reprinted with permission. Original article can be viewed here.
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