Sharing Works

Cleanup project helps first-graders go "wild"

"It was a day they'll always remember." That's what teacher Karen Williams says about the day this past March when more than 200 first-graders got to go to the Wild Animal Park because of Sempra Energy. They're just a few of the many who have benefited from Sempra Energy's Volunteer Incentive Program (VIP).

The way the VIP works is that an employee volunteers with a certified nonprofit group for a total of eight hours and, in return, Sempra Energy contributes $100 to that group. Although $100 is nice, if that same employee gets 20 of his nearest and dearest co-workers together on the same project, then that nonprofit receives a check for $2,000. Not bad for a day's work.

Find a need and fill it
Jimmie Rodriguez, a field planner for Sempra Energy's Southern California Gas Co.(SoCalGas) in the company's El Centro, Calif., district, knew the perfect candidate for that $2,000 windfall. That's because his wife is a teacher at J.W. Oakley Elementary School in Brawley, Calif., and would come home from school telling him what bad shape the school's grounds were in. Rodriguez told his co-workers, who have taken on two VIP projects a year for the past few years, and they were all on board.

So, the group of 20 SoCalGas employees who work together Monday through Friday planning and managing natural gas distribution, got together one Saturday last November to plan and manage the school's beautification. After breakfast together, they spent the day at the school cleaning up weeds and rocks, planting trees and flowers, painting benches where the students eat lunch and even fortifying the school's turtle habitat. They ended the day with a giant barbecue, where they were joined by some of the faculty, staff and students.

Making a difference
It's this feeling of camaraderie that appeals the most to SoCalGas employee and volunteer, Joe Montenegro. The SoCalGas district operations manager loves the feeling of family when the employees get together for their projects twice a year. He explains that while they work, eat, play music and laugh together, they're also growing closer as a team. "All titles disappear when we're on a project like this," says Montenegro. "We're all together to do something that's making a lasting difference for the school."

As for Rodriguez, the "lasting difference" for him is knowing that he's helped bring a special treat to the kids, which they wouldn't have gotten without his and Sempra Energy's help. With school funding always on the chopping block, extras like field trips are often among the first luxuries that are taken away. As first-grade teacher Williams notes, "Sempra Energy's contribution was invaluable. If it hadn't been for this Sempra Energy program, we wouldn't have been able to go to the Wild Animal Park. And every student had such a wonderful time!"

The first-graders from Oakley Elementary got to do and see things that day at the Wild Animal Park that they'd never have gotten from sitting in a classroom. They also got to go back to a school that was cleaner and nicer, and where even the turtles were happier. In the same way, the Sempra Energy employees achieved goals that they'd never have reached by sitting in an office. And that's how Sempra Energy's sharing works.