Of the many valuable shipments that leave Marathon Petroleum Corporation’s refinery in Salt Lake City, Utah, very rarely is one of them edible. Recently, however, 700 pounds of non-perishable food items left the site for Okinawa, Japan, after a collection drive by refinery employees for deployed US Marines.
Operations excellence manager Jeremy Holmes, an original member of the refinery’s chapter of HONOUR, MPC’s Veterans Employee Network that organised the drive, explained that the team’s motto was “a taste of home,” leading them to find items they thought would remind the Marines of home. Holmes emphasised that the initiative reflects the employees’ desire to give back to the men and women who serve the country.
Standing next to crates of non-perishable food items going to US Marines in Japan are Salt Lake City refinery employee volunteers, including warehouse manager Corey King, pipefitting & welding supervisor Travis Bettencourt, senior commercial sourcing advisor Eddy Bisharat, operations excellence manager Jeremy Holmes and corporate social responsibility & community relations representative Dean Adam.
The site’s workforce purchased and donated all the items, which included everything from cookies, hard candy and protein bars to nuts, snack cakes, noodles and seasonings. The recipients in Japan are members of Fox Company, 2nd Battalion, 23rd Marine Regiment.
The wooden crates sent to Japan included signatures from employee volunteers on stickers that thanked the deployed Marines for their service. Holmes noted that the team collected donations for three weeks and packed everything up in wooden crates in just a couple of hours.
The collection drive builds on other outreach efforts by the refinery’s 32-member Veterans Employee Network. HONOUR also makes charitable funding recommendations and provides volunteer hours in support of several nonprofit organisations in Utah, including Utah Veterans Alliance, the Major Brent Taylor Foundation, Courage Reins and Utah Honour Flight.
For Holmes, who served in the Marine Corps for four years, the motivation behind his involvement in these efforts is straightforward. He explained that the team simply wants to give back to the men and women who serve the country. Holmes noted that this marks the third time they have completed this food drive for deployed units, and each year they receive more participation. He added that the team really enjoys the satisfaction of being able to give back in this small way.
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