• The ability to work in a fast-paced environment and serve some 2,000 customers is not the only thing IST’s North America Gas and Power (NAGP) can do; they can also respond quickly in the time of need to our local communities.
  

Krause Children’s Center

Last holiday season, the executive director at Krause notified Orlando Alvarez, Chief Operating Officer of NAGP’s South Gas business and Krause Executive Sponsor, that the facility had a great need and requested crucial support from NAGP. With that, Alvarez responded quickly by engaging Houston staff requesting a call to action to assist Krause.

The Krause Children’s Center, a not-for-profit residential facility for neglected and abused children, experienced flooding damage in 2008 and received contributions from NAGP; however, a state inspection at the end of 2009 discovered mold in two of the children’s rooms and it was spreading across to other areas of the facility.

Costs to remove the mold and repair the existing damage, estimated at $60K, which the facility could not afford as donations were at an all time low for the year.

NAGP employees promptly answered the call to action and over a short two-week time period raised more than $53K (including BP matched funds).

Overwhelming response

With such an overwhelming response from employees, Alvarez shared that, “I couldn’t be more pleased with the response from our employees. We really came through for the kids this time, especially when you consider it was the holiday season and the place was a mess. It should give all of us a tremendous sense of pride!

The Krause Center serves boys and girls, ages 11 to 17, who suffer from severe emotional and behavioral problems, mostly as a result of physical, emotional and sexual abuse and neglect in their homes. In addition, the center provides education to prepare children so they can make a smooth transition to public school systems.

While Krause was a huge and significant effort, NAGP employees continued into the New Year with answering another call to action to support the Star of Hope.

Responding to an immediate request due to Houston’s cold weather, employees were asked to donate to the Star of Hope, which serves Houston’s homeless men, women, and their children everyday. They were in desperate need of winter garments and blankets for their clients.

Star of Hope

In one morning or rather several hours on the NAGP floors, employees raised more than $4,000 and ended up purchasing more than 600 pieces of winter garments such as coats, sweatshirts, hats, gloves, thermal wear and blankets that day for Star of Hope.

Greg Sharp, Vice President of Marketing and Origination for the Gulf Coast/Southeastern Region added that the idea of raising this money came from a story on a local radio station, KSBJ that discussed the great need that the Star of Hope has in general and specifically because of the very cold weather, that was hitting the Gulf Coast.

“The fundraising began initially on our team and then it just exploded from there as word of the effort moved across the trading floor and into many other areas of NAGP, “said Sharp. “It was amazing to see the spontaneity of generosity from so many people that resulted in over $4,000 on clothing items getting delivered to the Star of Hope downtown warehouse that afternoon.”

Coming together as one team can make a huge impact in the community, which is exactly what NAGP did for the Krause Children’s Center and Star of Hope organizations. NAGP holds its active support to local communities as a priority for the business and is clearly evident by their continued efforts of passion.

As of February, the Krause Children’s Center was well underway with repairs and the Star of Hope received the donations from NAGP employees to assist the people they serve.