Insights > Entergy Employees Power National Volunteer Month with 4,280 Hours of Service

Entergy Employees Power National Volunteer Month with 4,280 Hours of Service

05/21/2019

In celebration of National Volunteer Month — a month-long celebration honoring volunteers and encouraging continued volunteerism in April — Entergy employees participated in more than 40 planned events across our four-state system, logging 4,280 service hours. This translates into a $109,000 economic impact to the communities we serve.

From volunteering in food pantries across Louisiana, serving the homeless in Mississippi and caring for sheltered animals in Texas, to participating in crafts with hospitalized children in Arkansas and reducing the environmental impact of Carnival season in New Orleans, Entergy employees powered life throughout the communities in which they live and work.

Check out a few ways Entergy volunteers served our customers, community partners and neighbors during National Volunteer Month:

Arkansas:

  • Regulatory affairs, public affairs, finance and communications groups spent time volunteering at the Arkansas Food Bank. In just two hours, the crew packed 770 bags of cereal for families across the state. According to Food Bank statistics, Arkansas is second in the nation for food insecurity.
  • Transmission’s Diversity and Inclusion council members volunteered at Arkansas Children's Hospital participating in crafts with inpatient and outpatient children. They also provided families with plush bunnies, toy eggs filled with a surprise and a Polaroid keepsake picture of each kid with the Easter bunny.
  • Lake Catherine Plant employees, contractors and an employee from vegetation management planned and participated in the plant’s 3rd annual charity bake auction raising $6,700 for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
  • Union Power partnered with distribution, transmission and outage contractors to provide 2,145 Easter eggs, bubbles, small toys and cash to Hope Landing — a one-of-a-kind facility that offers occupational, physical, speech-language, equine and aquatic therapies to children with disabilities.

Louisiana:

  • More than 251 employees, including Entergy Louisiana President and CEO Phillip May, volunteered at food pantries across the state to pack over 1,000 food backpacks. The backpacks are designed to help low-income children who are at risk of missing meals — over the weekend or during holidays — when they are not in school receiving free or reduced price lunches.
  • Entergy partnered with the American Red Cross for the annual “Sound the Alarm, Save a Life” event. Community volunteers, including Entergy employees, installed 190 smoke detectors. Entergy’s team won the Golden alarm for installing 96 of the smoke detectors.
  • Employees were volunteers and rowers at the 2019 Dragon Boat Races, an event to benefit the Children's Miracle Network’s mission to help fund NICU equipment for local hospitals.
  • For nearly 20 years, employees have volunteered for the Special Olympics Louisiana Southwest Area Spring Games and this year was no different. Volunteers helped create a fun experience for the athletes through coaching, cheering and positive reinforcement. Win or lose, the participating athletes develop character, make friends and find unknown wells of determination within themselves.

Mississippi:

  • The North American Young Generation in Nuclear Echelon Chapter volunteered at the Kids Stop Day Care and Preschool to teach students about nuclear power. They made delicious candy nuclear reactors and lead story time with “Marie’s Electric Adventure.”
  • Volunteers spent the day at Gateway Rescue Mission serving hot, nutritious meals to homeless and less fortunate individuals throughout the Jackson community. Many of the Entergy employees who participated are regular volunteers at the Mission and have developed special relationships with those served.
  • Entergy employees were among the 250 community members who volunteered with United Way of West Central Mississippi for its 22nd annual Day of Caring. From cleaning and landscaping to painting and assembling, volunteers helped nonprofits across Warren, Sharkey, Issaquena, Yazoo and Claiborne counties.

New Orleans:

  • Employees participated in a nonprofit board service "speed dating to make a difference" event to engage one-on-one with community partners to discuss the organizations’ mission, needs and board service opportunities.
  • Capital projects employees volunteered at Arc of Greater New Orleans sorting thousands of pounds of Mardi Gras throws for the nonprofit's recycling and resell program. This initiative not only provides jobs and support for individuals with developmental disabilities, but also helps to reduce the environmental impact of Carnival season.
  • Several employee groups volunteered at Green Light New Orleans to clean, sand and beautify rain barrels that, once installed, help New Orleanians save water, energy, money and the local environment. So far this year, employees have repurposed approximately 30 olive-turned-rain barrels that can retain up to 67,650 gallons of stormwater runoff annually.
  • Entergy New Orleans’ Diversity and Inclusion council and customer service members volunteered at Dillard University’s Earth Day expo creating awareness about advanced meter infrastructure technology and Entergy’s environmental programs. They also volunteered at Dillard’s Spring Sweep alongside faculty and students, trimming shrubbery and picking up litter to help beautify the campus.

Texas:

  • Serving families in need, several employees, including Entergy Texas President and CEO Sallie Rainer, helped sort and package food and household essentials at food banks across Jefferson and Montgomery counties throughout the month.
  • Employees spent the day playing hooky by volunteering at the Montgomery County Animal Shelter to help walk, love and care for the shelter dogs that await their “furever” home.
  • Partnering with businesses and organizations across Southeast Texas, employees participated in the second annual “Day of Caring” hosted by United Way of Beaumont. Volunteers provided helping hands to homeowners who are still rebuilding and recovering after Hurricane Harvey.

Michigan:

  • Entergy’s employee volunteers at the Palisades Nuclear Power Plant cleaned Interstate 196 for two miles as a part of Michigan’s Adopt-A-Highway Program. This is the 24th year the employees adopted the 11 to 13-mile marker in Van Buren County to make it a little more beautiful.

Through our commitment to volunteerism, Entergy has been recognized as one of the top 50 most community-minded corporations in the U.S. for three consecutive years. For more information on Entergy’s philanthropic efforts, visit the corporate social responsibility web page.

Take a look at Entergy’s employee involvement in the community during National Volunteer Month: