Day of Service once again provides plenty of community support
More than 3,000 employees, retirees and family members – along with friends and customers – came together over four days in early September to volunteer to better their communities by participating in Xcel Energy’s annual Day of Service.
The volunteers joined together at more than 100 project sites across the company’s eight-state service territory to dig, plant, paint, cut, sort, organize and much more on behalf of a variety of community nonprofit partners. They gave 9,000 volunteer hours and provided an economic impact of $270,000.
A few highlights from this years’ Day of Service included:
- Packing 250,000 meals for families.
- Assembling 2,300 hygiene kits.
- Decorating 2,000 meal bags.
- Planting more than 500 trees and native plants.
- Cleaning up five acres of land.
- Picking up 250 bags of trash.
“This annual event provides a great opportunity for our company to come together and make an impact on the communities we serve,” said Brett Carter, executive vice president and group president of Utilities. “Xcel Energy employees are dedicated to giving back to the communities we serve, and our Day of Service provides us with a large-scale opportunity to help many organizations. Coming together like this for a few days allows us to make an even more focused and positive impact in our communities.”
The nonprofit organizations supported through the effort offered their thanks for the support.
“Xcel Energy’s Day of Service is a unique partnership to support our hardworking Latino, Black and Indigenous farmers in Minnesota, while providing our community with nutritious and culturally appropriate food,” said Hayley Crabb, director of Development and Communications at the Latino Economic Development Corporation. “Xcel Energy helps purchase the food directly from our farmers, and Xcel Energy volunteers help distribute the food directly to community members.
“It’s a win-win,” she added. “We’ve been partnering with Xcel Energy the last few years for Day of Service, and it is always a tremendous success. Xcel Energy employees are fantastic volunteers, show up with a smile and are eager to help.”
“Day of Service volunteers tackle large projects like landscaping, painting and moving supplies,” added Jonathan Palmer, executive director of the Hallie Q. Brown Community Center in St. Paul. “This would take us 10 times the time and effort without their help. Having them here, ensures that we can devote our staff and resources to the key work we do in the community providing critical services and programs. We are extremely glad to partner annually on this effort.”
And Xcel Energy employees get as much out of the event as the nonprofits they choose to support.
“I enjoy giving,” said Desirae Bryant, a project manager with the company’s Advanced Grid effort in Colorado. “It is so valuable to see events, contributions and opportunities grow in your community, and it only takes a little bit of dedicated time and effort. It amazes me how little can make such big impacts.”
This year, the company supported in-person projects, which were not available during the pandemic, and offered a number of take-home projects, as well.
