Accounting Team Supports Gleaners
Members of Citizens Energy Group’s Accounting team spent a morning in March helping to provide nourishment to food-insecure neighbors. The team worked a volunteer shift at Gleaners Food Bank and repackaged bulk quantities of cereal into consumer portions to make them available for distribution. In a three-hour shift, the Citizens employees packed more than 1,000 bags of cereal; based on recommended serving sizes, that translates into more than 6,000 breakfast portions.
The team enjoyed the experience very much and felt rewarded to have made a real difference in helping to feed the hungry. Gleaners relies on volunteers to augment staffing for many tasks, and the repackaging of bulk food is entirely dependent on volunteers: Without them, it simply doesn't happen.
Above: From left to right, back row: Craig Jackson, Joseph Ko, Jason Howard, Ted Foxworthy, Kim Hood, Ann Shutters; Front row: Courtney Trickle, James No, Camela Johnson, Sabine Karner, John Goebes, Jennifer Burton
"Volunteering at Gleaners is a meaningful way to help the community. It is also a great way to engage with your team in a fun way on behalf of people in need. The Accounting team is ready to go back for another shift,” said Sabine Karner, Vice President & Controller at Citizens. Karner has served on the Gleaners Board of Directors since 2019 and was recently appointed its Treasurer.
Fred Glass, CEO of Gleaners, shares, “Nationally, hunger is a huge problem as 10.2% of Americans are food insecure. In Indiana, it's even worse. We're north of 13%, and it's even higher in communities of color among Hispanic neighbors (16.2%) and Black neighbors (19.8%) and among active-duty service members (24%).”
On fighting hunger in Indiana, Sarah Estell, Chief Communications and Advocacy Officer at Gleaners, explains, "Gleaners Food Bank of Indiana is a leader in the fight against hunger both in Indiana and regionally through Fresh Connect Central. With a goal to ensure equitable access to a variety of healthy, nutritious foods, Gleaners and Fresh Connect together distributed more than 100 million pounds of food to Gleaners’ 21-county service area and to Feeding America food banks in 21 states. Volunteer engagement is critical to our ability to serve, with volunteers providing the equivalent of 28 full-time employees last year. A key component of our strategic plan is to empower people facing food insecurity to move toward greater self-sufficiency. Our Resource Room, where Citizens Energy Group has been a participant, helps those we serve with SNAP application assistance, WIC, health insurance, energy assistance, rental assistance, healthcare, vaccinations, and more."
Kenya McMillin, Community & Stakeholder Engagement Manager at Citizens, also has volunteered at Gleaners and said working in the Resource Room was a great opportunity to partner with other organizations to provide wraparound services to the public. On the days she volunteered in the Resource Room, Citizens and AES Indiana handed out the companies’ collaborative Utilities Unite for Customers assistance guide with the food donations. The one-page guide educates utility customers on available assistance programs. McMillin said she looks forward to spending time in the Resource Room again this summer, as part of Citizens’ ongoing grassroot efforts to engage with community-based organizations.
"No team size is too small or too big," said Karner. "There are a variety of tasks waiting to be done by volunteers, and the friendly Gleaners staff is there to train you: no experience necessary. I hope Gleaners will see many more volunteer teams from Citizens. There's also an element of friendly competition … many organizations send corporate teams to volunteer at Gleaners and some just knock it out of the park. The Accounting team had actually signed up for an event to assemble custom orders from hungry neighbors, but the corporate team ahead of us was so efficient, they completed their work and ours, so we were reassigned to the repackaging room. Next time we'll sign up for the first shift and see if we can't beat that record."
It is easy to organize a volunteer event at Gleaners. Simply reach out to Christina Basey at cbasey@gleaners.org to reserve a time slot, and have everyone on your team complete the Citizens waiver ahead of time. If you want to be more spontaneous or members of your team would like to volunteer individually, you can always sign up for an open shift through the Gleaners portal.
Citizens Employees Visit JA BizTown
Citizens Energy Group is a proud supporter of JA BizTown and the work Junior Achievement of Central Indiana does to provide engaging business education and prepare young people to enter the workforce. In March, several Citizens employees volunteered at JA BizTown, supporting a class of fifth-graders participating in a simulation of a professional workday: completing tasks at one’s job, taking a paycheck to the bank, voting in a local election, and collaborating with team members to make and sell products or services. Citizens’ sponsorship of the program includes a physical storefront inside the simulation–modeled after Citizens’ General Office building–where students learn about the important services Citizens provides to the community. Citizens President & CEO Jeffrey Harrison even stopped by to chat with students, including the fifth-grade CEO of “Citizens BizTown,” about the lessons they were learning from leading their companies.
Right: Citizens employee Alex Haberfield poses inside BizTown's Citizens storefront. Alex attended BizTown as a fifth-grader and was assigned the job of Citizens meter reader!
National Engineers Week Celebrated at Local Schools
Citizens Energy Group employees celebrated National Engineers Week by visiting local elementary schools and presenting on what makes their jobs so interesting and important. Below, Jennifer Bailey, Director of Treasury, presents to Mrs. Finney’s fifth-grade STEM class at St. Luke Catholic School. Ryan Taylor, Manager Purification Plant Engineering, presented to Park Tudor’s advanced physics class.
National Engineers Week is sponsored by the American Council of Engineering Companies of Indiana (ACEC) and introduces engineering learning opportunities to Indiana schools.
