St. Paul Park refinery partners with Rebuilding Together Minnesota for no-cost home repairs

Community News

St. Paul Park, Minnesota, foundation
Marathon Petroleum employees L to R, Dan Tocko, Amuna Kenyi, Steve Johnson, Obed Goodwin, Tim Olson, Kristen Heutmaker, Eric Bauer, Bob Norton, Nolan Parker, Blaine Eastman and Randall Brusehaver.
 
  • Marathon Petroleum’s St. Paul Park refinery in Minnesota recently presented Rebuilding Together Minnesota a grant for $65,000.
  • The grant dollars will support the nonprofit’s mission of providing no cost home repairs for low-income homeowners in the Twin Cities area.
  • Refinery employees recently volunteered at the home of an 85-year-old woman to build her a handicap accessible ramp.

It’s been a summer full of volunteer efforts for employees from Marathon Petroleum’s refinery in St. Paul Park, Minnesota, including partnering with Rebuilding Together Minnesota, the local chapter of the national nonprofit, which provides no-cost home repairs for low-income homeowners who are older adults, people with disabilities, families with children, and active or retired members of the military.  

Employees from Marathon Petroleum’s St. Paul Park refinery working on assembling a new handicap accessible ramp for a resident of St. Paul, Minnesota.

Recently, the refinery presented the organization with a $65,000 grant to help build ramps for residents, including 85-year-old Helen Holmes who has limited mobility and requires a wheelchair following below-the-knee leg amputation surgery. Holmes, who has lived at her home for over 60 years, could no longer access the front entrance due to the lack of a handicap accessible ramp. That changed this summer when employees from Marathon Petroleum teamed up with Rebuilding Together Minnesota’s experienced ramp team.

“We greatly appreciate Marathon Petroleum for helping us make this life-changing addition possible for Ms. Holmes,” said Tom Sjogren, Project Director at Rebuilding Together Minnesota. “Not only is her home more accessible now, but the overall grant money provided by the company means we will be able to help even more people in need.”

Marathon Petroleum employee Obed Goodwin, working together with a volunteer from Rebuilding Together Minnesota, to build a new handicap accessible ramp at the home of a disabled resident in St. Paul, Minnesota.

About a dozen people from Marathon Petroleum volunteered to build the ramp. Rebuilding Minnesota Together estimates they will be able to build 12 ramps in the area with the grant from Marathon Petroleum.

“At Marathon, we are focused on improving the communities where we live and work,” said Holly Jackson, General Manager at the St. Paul Park refinery. “We are proud to be integrated in these communities, and we are excited to partner with Rebuilding Together Minnesota to benefit so many in our shared community.”

 Employees from Marathon Petroleum’s St. Paul Park refinery work together with Rebuilding Minnesota Together to build the new handicap accessible ramp for a resident of St. Paul, Minnesota.

Other recent employee volunteer projects include removing litter and invasive plant life from a large area of Mississippi River bluffland property, through the refinery's longstanding partnership with Friends of the Mississippi River, and a trash pickup along a busy two-mile stretch of roadway in Washington County as part of the local Adopt-A-Highway program.

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