Second-oldest African-American cemetery receives much needed attention
HOUSTON-More than 1,000 employees of NRG Energy, Inc. and its subsidiary companies took time away from their regular job duties to perform volunteer work on NRG Global Giving Day. This annual event, now in its fifth year, provides more than 5,000 hours of “people power” from NRG to help various charitable organizations in communities across the country. In addition to the extra helping hands from NRG employees today, each qualifying organization can apply to receive a $2,000 donation from NRG Global Giving. “We at NRG view Global Giving Day as the day we get to show our communities the best of who we are as neighbors,” said Meredith Moore, Senior Vice President of Communications and head of NRG’s charitable initiatives. “Our commitment is about more than funding the organizations we work with across America—it’s also about making an investment of time and sweat equity.”
During today’s NRG Global Giving Day, about 20% of NRG’s nationwide workforce mobilized to volunteer at many local charitable and community-based organizations and perform a variety of activities. Some examples of this year’s employee outreach include: In Houston and Dallas, employees packed food boxes and preparing meals at the Houston Food Bank and at the North Texas Food Bank; cleaning part of the Padre Island Sea Shore with Texas Parks and Wildlife personnel; Making minor building repairs, painting and landscaping at Help House, a residential facility owned by the AIDS Foundation of Houston, which provides housing and services to people living with HIV/AIDS and clearing overgrowth and restoring historic Olivewood Cemetery, the second-oldest African-American cemetery in Houston. NRG Global Giving Day is part of a larger employee-led NRG Global Giving corporate responsibility program. In 2011, the Company donated $4.6 million to 362 organizations and matched more than 1,000 employee donations.