Martinez employees support community
Community News
Martinez, FoundationMPC’s Martinez refinery employees continue to be active in supporting their communities. During the month of April, employees surpassed fundraising goals for the local food bank, helped deliver school supplies to kids, participated in a blood drive and supported local law enforcement officers.
The refinery organized an employee fundraiser benefiting the Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano with a goal of raising $15,000. Within one week, employees donated more than $10,000, not including the 100% matching gift that will be added to the total by MPC. The funds raised were in addition to a $15,000 grant provided by MPC to the food bank in March.
In addition, MPC provided a $5,000 grant to the Monument Crisis Center of Concord, which provides public safety support and critical services to at-risk families, including a food pantry, medical assessments and legal services.
Another $5,000 grant was given to Meals on Wheels to provide food to homebound seniors. The number of seniors needing the meal service has surged because they fall into the at-risk category and cannot go out for groceries and food during the shelter-in-place order.
Employees also volunteered to deliver school supplies to children, in partnership with the Boys and Girls Clubs of Contra Costa. More than 500 kits were delivered, with an end goal of providing more than 2,000. With students now learning from home, many families are struggling without the proper basic supplies like paper, pens, notebooks, calculators and fun extras like stickers, sunglasses and bubbles.
On April 27-28, the refinery sponsored a community blood drive in partnership with Vitalant Blood Center and Six Flags Hurricane Harbor. Each donor received a ticket to Six Flags Hurricane Harbor and a Marathon-branded bottle of hand sanitizer. The blood drive collected 91 pints of blood, which is enough to save 273 lives.
MPC also provided 250 bottles of hand sanitizer to local law enforcement, including the Contra Costa County Office of the Sheriff and the Martinez Police Department. The bottles were donated to help keep the patrol divisions safe while they work to protect and serve the community.