Key Points

• Employees from Marathon Petroleum's St. Paul Park refinery recently took part in their annual Adopt-A-Highway cleanup effort.
• More than a dozen volunteers removed trash and debris along a two-mile stretch of roadway connecting St. Paul Park and Cottage Grove.
• The cleanup has become a favorite among employees and one of the ways they have worked together to help keep Minnesota beautiful for more than a decade and a half.

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Since 2010, employees from Marathon Petroleum's St. Paul Park refinery have volunteered through Washington County's Adopt-A-Highway program in Minnesota, continuing a long-standing tradition of community service.

More than a dozen refinery employees came together once again to clean the refinery’s adopted two-mile stretch of roadway connecting St. Paul Park and Cottage Grove in Washington County. Their efforts resulted in the collection of more than a dozen large bags of trash, along with several larger discarded items.

“We greatly appreciate our volunteers’ dedication to keeping our roadways clean and safe,” said Jennifer Oehler, Adopt-A-Highway Program Coordinator for Washington County. “The team from Marathon’s St. Paul Park refinery is always so eager and great to work with.”

"This is such a great opportunity for our team to come together outside of the office and almost immediately see the positive impact we're making in the community.”

Working in small teams of two to three, the volunteers spent the afternoon cleaning the adopted section of highway that links St. Paul Park to Cottage Grove. The area is home to many refinery employees and their families, making the annual effort especially meaningful.

"This is such a great opportunity for our team to come together outside of the office and almost immediately see the positive impact we're making in the community," said Jeremy Gibson, Supply Chain Director at the refinery and one of the event organizers. "That's what makes this tradition so meaningful year after year."

Since launching in 1991, Washington County's Adopt-A-Highway program has continued to grow, with 135 volunteer groups now helping maintain more than 265 miles of roadway.

"What our team does with one cleanup may seem small on its own, but our mindset is always focused on the bigger picture and doing our part," said Kristin Heutmaker, Environmental, Safety & Security Director at the St. Paul Park refinery. "It’s also one of the many ways throughout the year that our employees volunteer to put our commitment to environmental stewardship into action."