• The United Way chapter in El Paso, Texas, has received a financial boost for 2023 through a special fundraising effort by employees at Marathon Petroleum’s local refinery.
• An employee car show on refinery grounds with raffle drawings, a silent auction and cooking contests raised $7,600 for the United Way of El Paso County.
• These funds are in addition to pledges that come through the refinery’s annual United Way giving campaign.

An eclectic mix of cars, raffles and cooking contests has helped fuel the 2023 United Way giving campaign of Marathon Petroleum’s El Paso, Texas, refinery. To add to employee pledges that come through the campaign, the site’s behavior-based safety team coordinated a campaign kick-off event for employees and contractors at the refinery in late 2022 that centered around a car show and raised $7,600 for the United Way of El Paso County.

“This was an amazing opportunity to serve our community because United Way is instrumental in supporting numerous local charities that also have several Marathon employees on their boards,” said Union Health and Safety Representative Mike Vasquez.

Car show judges ranked 25 entries in four categories: cars, motorcycles, trucks and a special ‘weekend warrior’ division for heavily modified vehicles that was won by a tractor. Along with the show, there were raffle drawings for electronic devices, such as TVs and tablets, and many other gifts donated by the refinery’s leadership team. Additionally, a silent auction provided opportunities to bid on refinery-owned vehicles no longer in use – including a 1998 sedan with fewer than 25,000 miles on it – and the selection of a college team logo to be featured on a busy crosswalk at the refinery.

“There is not simply one thing that drives our site to be actively engaged. It’s our culture. We are grateful to be a blessing at work and in this community we call home.”   

Food trucks served the attendees. The gathering’s pastries, salsa and barbequed brisket, however, were brought by employees as part of cooking contests that, Vasquez noted, required a little extra effort to stage.

“We had to ask security to make additional rounds the night before the event because the brisket competitors brought grills to smoke their meat for hours in the parking lot,” he said.

Vasquez attributed the overall success to a refinery-wide volunteer effort that extended beyond safety and security teams to include Human Resources, supply chain and the site’s Veterans Employee Network. Volunteers not only arranged all activities, they also made sure leftover food went to a local non-profit called the Reynolds Home that assists families in need, which provided meals for 18 families.

“Many of our employees have roots in the community and play an active role in making it a better place to live,” Vasquez said. “There is not simply one thing that drives our site to be actively engaged. It’s our culture. We are grateful to be a blessing at work and in this community we call home.”