Saint John Energy Gives Time And Money To Fighting Poverty In The Community
This story is part of a series called, Business Does Good, stories about Maritime companies contributing time and money to making their communities stronger.
SAINT JOHN – Saint John Energy donated more than $165,000 to local community organizations throughout 2020 in their commitment to combat generational poverty and other initiatives.
“Ten years ago we would just give out a cheque and we’d be happy with that, but now we’re looking at where is the biggest need and how can we help? Everything from what our community centres need to our schools to our hospitals,” said Jessica DeLong, Manager of Stakeholder Relations with Saint John Energy. “It’s just making sure everyone is happy and healthy to the best that we can.”
Saint John Energy has worked with several organizations over the course of 2020, including United Way. Between employee contributions, matched corporate donations, and an additional corporate donation, more than $80,000 was donated to United Way.
$23,000 was donated to United Way’s Covid-19 Compassion Fund, which was used to help deliver food to homes during the pandemic when they were unable to go to a food bank.
“We jumped aboard that very very quickly. This is a very intangible world. We needed to find something that was tangible,” said DeLong.
“It was probably one of the first heartwarming experiences of the pandemic because it showed that because everyone is at home and working and feeling disconnected that sometimes helping our community is going to help not only those people but bring your company together and help your own mental health. To know you’re helping others that are in need is a huge piece for us. Staying connected is a huge piece for us.”
Saint John Energy’s focus on its investment in the community is to break the cycle of generational poverty. They have done this through working with United Way along with supporting organizations such as the YMCA, Carleton Community Centre, Teen Resource Centre, and Crescent Valley.
“For example, we have old laptops and we donated those to Carleton Community Centre. As kids were going virtual we noticed a gap and took old laptops we had, cleaned them up and gave 10 used laptops,” said DeLong. “It’s not just providing a cheque. It’s asking where our community needs that money.”
Saint John Energy also provides employees with one hour of paid volunteer work per week. DeLong says Saint John Energy employees collectively give 2000 volunteer hours annually.
Many employees use their weekly hour to volunteer with Seaside Park Elementary School, Saint John Energy’s partner as part of the Partners Assisting Local Schools (PALS) program. However, in 2020 due to the pandemic, volunteering with the school was no longer an option.
“A lot of us have been doing something different with that hour because we had to change our focus for how we volunteer with the community,” said DeLong. “A lot of us were helping out our neighbours, or delivering groceries, or talking to United Way and asking what the Teen Resource Centre needed or dropping off school supplies.”
As part of the holiday season, Saint John Energy has also helped install lights as part of Winter Wonderland at Carleton, maintaining lights as part of the Harbour Lights campaign, given $1,000 to the Empty Stocking Fund, and have partnered with Uptown Saint John to maintain over 500 uptown holiday lights.
“It goes to that mental health aspect. It’s bringing the spirit of Christmas back and help a lot of the community that was going to have a hard Christmas. So, we have to make sure those people are still mentally and physically healthy and have the ability to give Christmas to their family that they deserve,” said DeLong.
DeLong says that Saint John Energy takes a tremendous amount of pride in their community initiatives and are always looking for new ways to give back to Saint John’s diverse population.
“Everyone who is paying their power bill, we want them to know that part of that is going back into their community to support them and that’s where it should be.”
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