Looking for a way to give back this holiday season? Consider donating to Citizens' virtual food drive or the Warm Heart Warm Home Foundation™.
Donate to Virtual Food Drive by December 31
Due to the ongoing pandemic, the Paul Riggins Giving Tree Program looks a little different this year. Citizens’ United Way Team, which organizes the Program each year, is challenging employees to raise $2,500 by December 31 through a virtual food drive for Gleaners Food Bank of Indiana.
To contribute to the food drive, visit http://bit.ly/CitizensFoodDrive2020 and choose items like you are placing an online grocery order. The website demonstrates Gleaners’ buying power vs. shopping retail. For example, with your $5.40 donation, Gleaners can purchase a whole case of spaghetti sauce, which would cost more than $20 at a local grocery store!
One in seven people in central and southeast Indiana relies on Gleaners and its agency partners for food assistance. Every $1 Gleaners receives can be turned into up to five meals for those in need. Providing fresh, healthy produce, protein rich meats and dairy, as well as shelf-stable items allows families to make and eat meals together.
Requesting financial donations, instead of asking employees to buy gifts for local families as we usually do, allows us to go back to the roots of the Raul Riggins Giving Tree Program.
Ten days before Christmas in 1992, Paul Riggins, who worked for Citizens as a machinist for 47 years, taped a $5 bill to the outline of a Christmas tree on the wall of the facility where he worked. Expecting that someone would take it, he vowed that he would give it to charity if it remained at the end of the week. To Riggins’ surprise, his co-workers began taping $1, $5, $10, $20, and even $50 bills to the wall to be given to charity.
In addition, if you’d rather donate cash, you can do so just like Paul Riggins’ coworkers did 28 years ago. An outline of a tree -- just like Paul Riggins’ original tree -- is posted in the Operations area of Langsdale 1A. A United Way Team member will be monitoring and collecting donations taped to the tree.
Donate to Warm Heart Warm Home
The United Way Team also would like to encourage coworkers to consider setting up a payroll deduction to go to Citizens’ Warm Heart Warm Home Foundation, which provides financial assistance to customers having difficulty paying their utility bills. Citizens matches annual donations to the foundation up to $50,000. Donations are tax deductible, and all contributions go directly to customers in need.
To get started, visit the iTrust home page, and click on “Warm Heart Warm Home Payroll Deduction” from the Employee Resources dropdown menu.
You can also make a one-time donation or pay someone’s bill. To learn more about these options, visit www.citizensenergygroup.com, and then click on “Utility Services” from the “My Home” menu.
