Citizens Employees and Partners Embark on Largest Sharing the Dream Event in History
INDIANAPOLIS- Painting walls, adding storage, installing appliances and cleaning rooms at Riverside Park are just a few of the jobs hundreds of Citizens Energy Group employees are tackling this week at Citizens’ ninth annual Sharing the Dream event. Citizens employees participate each year in Sharing the Dream, a multi-day service project which gives employees a chance to serve the community and honor the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Employees typically devote two days to Sharing the Dream. The magnitude of this year’s park makeover requires even more hands on deck and another full day of volunteers.
“In the history of Sharing the Dream, we’ve never taken on a project requiring this many volunteer hours and in-kind donations,” said Jeffrey Harrison, Citizens President and CEO. “The major transformation happening at Riverside Park demonstrates our employees’ enthusiasm for the challenge set before them and their dedication to our community.”
Located northwest of downtown on Riverside Drive, Riverside Park offers meeting rooms, an outdoor pool, family center, craft rooms and playgrounds to the surrounding community. Citizens and the Indianapolis Parks Foundation toured the park last summer and determined a makeover of nearly every room inside the park’s 35,000-square-foot recreation center was in order. The scope of work ranges from adding fresh coats of paint to painting murals, adding walls to create storage space, installing new carpet and furniture, pouring new floors, replacing lights, building flower beds, rehanging banners in the gym and fixing leaking toilets in the locker rooms. A new Indy Parks Customer Service Center, which opens later this month, is also being relocated from the City-County Building to Riverside Park.
“Our city’s parks provide an invaluable service to our community,” said Mayor Joe Hogsett. “Parks offer neighborhood and recreational benefits while also increasing the quality of place and bringing the community together. Citizens Energy Group and its annual Sharing the Dream event is something we look forward to every year as it transforms some of our neighborhood’s greatest gems. Riverside Park is a lucky beneficiary to have Citizens’ largest Sharing the Dream project underway there.”
Sharing the Dream began today and wraps up Friday. On Monday, Indy Parks will reopen Riverside Park for a community open house, giving residents a chance to tour the facility and see the improvements. Citizens employees will donate nearly 1,000 hours of volunteer time during Sharing the Dream. Citizens and its generous partners will donate nearly one million dollars either monetarily or in-kind.
Our Partners
All of our partners deserve recognition and we thank them for their efforts prior to and during the Sharing the Dream event, especially Marksmen Construction Services and Mitsch Design. Others partners include: A All Star Garage Doors, Bright Ideas in Broad Ripple, Chisholm Lumber & Supply Co., Inc., Ciriello Plumbing, Conner Fine Painting, Denney Companies, Energy Plus Credit Union, GCI General Communication, Inc., Greens Auto & Truck Service, JK Paint Pros, Jurgen Associates, Inc., K and M Fence, K-Tech Floor Systems, Inc., Liberty Fund, Mainscape, Miller Pipeline, Nashida Services, One Source Equipment Rentals, Peine Engineering, Refined Restoration Inc., Sherwin Williams, Solace Risk Management, SSI Services, LLC, Suburban Glass Service, Inc., Superior Carpet, Installers, Inc., Technology Electric, Inc., and Trinity Security.
About Sharing the Dream
Sharing the Dream is an annual service project to honor the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. This year’s service project marks Citizens’ ninth partnership with Indy Parks and the Indianapolis Parks Foundation. Citizens has donated nearly two million dollars during Sharing the Dream projects over the years for improvements to Brookside Park Family Center, Martin Luther King Jr. Park’s pool and bathhouse, Pride Park Community Center, Municipal Gardens, Eagle Creek Hide-A-Way, Perry Park’s Ice Arena, Thatcher Park, Krannert Park and Garfield Park.
About Citizens Energy Group
Citizens Energy Group provides safe and reliable utility services to about 900,000 people in the Indianapolis area. Citizens operates its utilities for the benefit of customers and the community.
Media Contact Information
Sarah Holsapple
Phone: 317-519-1515
Email: media@citizensenergygroup.com