Communities

Supporting Local Communities

In 2011, we provided more than $5.5 million in charitable donations to local, regional and national non-profit organizations. These contributions spanned our service area and engaged hundreds of employees and community stakeholders. Here are a few examples:

• Columbia Gas of Pennsylvania and its employees donated more than $5,000 to the Adamsburg Volunteer Fire Department and the local American Red Cross chapter in the aftermath of tornadoes that hit Jeanette, Pa.
• When tornadoes struck western Massachusetts areas served by Columbia Gas of Massachusetts, the NiSource Charitable Foundation donated $10,000 to the local American Red Cross chapter to support those hardest hit in the community.
• Similarly, when a tornado hit Athens High School in Ohio, not even the school's victory bell was spared. Columbia Gas of Ohio presented the nonprofit Bulldog Blitz organization with a $4,000 donation toward rebuilding the school’s football, soccer and track facilities.
• Columbia Gas of Virginia employees raised $1,500 in support of the Louisa County Food Pantry and volunteer fire department after the east coast earthquake.

Our employees play a critical role in philanthropic efforts, donating significant time and money to causes and organizations they believe in. We support and encourage this involvement through our Dollars for Doers program, which contributes up to $500 per employee to an organization in return for volunteer time. In 2011, we contributed nearly $100,000 through the program, helping support local organizations our employees care about most.

Through Dollars for Doers, Columbia Gas of Ohio volunteers made possible a NiSource grant of more than $4,000 to help their local Ronald McDonald House be as warm and welcoming as possible for ill children and their families.

And during December, NGT&S employees in Houston pitched in to assemble bikes for underpriviledged children. Their efforts were part of a total contribution of nearly $10,000 in employee-driven and company-provided support.