Community Service Spotlight: CHS, CITGO & Coca-Cola
NATIONAL REPORT -- Giving back through community service efforts and charity donations is a positive force that keeps many retailers and suppliers of this industry moving ahead. On a regular basis, CSNews Online highlights these philanthropic efforts in this special section.
Here are the latest company spotlights:
CHS Inc.
The CHS Foundation awarded 75 $1,000 scholarships to college students studying agriculture. This year's recipients included 50 high-school seniors and 25 college students from 31 states. The CHS Foundation is the major giving entity of CHS Inc., a leading global agribusiness owned by farmers, ranchers and cooperatives across the United States.
In other CHS news, the Cenex Harvest States retail locations across Montana, which includes Mountain West Cooperative, raised $23,870 -- the equivalent of more than 71,000 meals through the Montana Food Bank Network.
CHS employees in Montana raised the money with barbecues, raffles and other community events.
CITGO Petroleum Corp.
Mobile literacy program and CITGO Fueling Good winner Bess the Book Bus continued its national tour with stops across the Midwest in May. In Wisconsin, Bess delivered free books and helped promote childhood literacy by reading aloud to pre-kindergarten and kindergarten students in Weston, Wis. More than 1,000 free books were given to the children who participated in the event.
In Indiana, with support from local CITGO Marketers Freedom Oil Co. and C&S Inc., Bess also delivered free books and promoted childhood literacy by reading aloud to pre-K and kindergarten students in Bloomington and Warsaw. More than 100 free books were given to the children who participated in these events.
Bess finished her two-week tour in Detroit on May 23.
In other company news, Detroit CITGO Marketer Bazzi Oil & Gas Co., CITGO Fueling Good Road Trip Ambassadors Adam and Diego, Wayne County (Mich.) Executive Robert Ficano and Miss Michigan Haley Williams teamed up with the Eight Mile Boulevard Association for the 18th annual "Clean the D" event in early May.
This year, more than 150 volunteers participated in painting projects, flower planting and trash pick-ups throughout the 27-mile stretch of the Eight Mile corridor of Detroit.
The Coca-Cola Co.
The Coca-Cola Co. and WaterHealth International (WHI) plans to bring safe drinking water to 1 million school children through the Child With Water program. Together, the partners aim to deliver 500 million liters of safe drinking water to 2,000 schools in developing countries by the end of 2015. Safe drinking water will be delivered to school children through water purification systems installed, operated and maintained by WaterHealth International. The first installations began in May.
The Coca-Cola Co. has also taken a minority equity ownership in WHI and continues to work on safe water access projects in West Africa through its Replenish Africa Initiative.
PepsiCo Inc.
The PepsiCo Foundation initiated two grants totaling $1.25 million to support two leading school-based health and wellness programs: GENYOUth Foundation's flagship program, Fuel Up to Play 60, and the United Way of Metropolitan Dallas' (UWMD )Healthy Zone School (HZS) Recognition Program.
The $550,000 grant to GENYOUth Foundation will support Fuel Up to Play 60 en Español, which has been developed specifically to address the needs of Latino students and their families.
The $700,000 PepsiCo Foundation grant to UWMD will fund an expansion of the HZS program across metropolitan Dallas from the 51 schools currently served to 90 schools. It will also fund a three-year pilot program in the Arlington, Texas, school district that links Fuel Up to Play 60 and HZS.
S. Abraham & Sons Inc. (SAS)
The sales and marketing management team of S. Abraham & Sons Inc. (SAS) volunteered at Gilda’s Club-Grand Rapids (Mich.). Gilda's Club is a national organization that offers a free resource of care and support for cancer patients as well as their families and friends.
In addition to touring the facility, two SAS volunteers organized a crafts and supplies room, and others assembled materials needed for the children’s Camp Sparkle. Another group helped with the landscaping and mulched the play area. SAS volunteers also cleaned the walls, floors and carpets.