Nearly a dozen Dominion Energy Transmission employees volunteered to serve, bus and clean up during a recent meal for veterans and their families. 
· The Dominion Energy Charitable Foundation’s $6,000 grant was used to cover the cost of providing an estimated 600 meals to veterans each Wednesday during a designated month.
· “We are proud to support the Clear Path for Veterans and its canteen lunch program,” said Stan J. Ossowski, manager, gas operations (N.Y.), Dominion Energy Transmission. “This is a unique opportunity for us to give back to the community and allow us to serve veterans (and their families) after they served to protect our country and to keep us safe.”
· Contact: Christian Vischi, PR / Marketing Manager,(315) 687-3300
Wednesday Canteens at Clear Path are modeled after the North Platte, Neb. Canteen which was set up to feed and provide a place of comfort to all the men headed across the country to fight in WWII. Each week, dozens of Culinary Program volunteers prepare a complimentary lunch open to all Veterans, active duty, Guard, Reserves and their immediate family regardless of era served or discharge status. This nutritious lunch is served in a welcoming environment to men and women of all service eras.
Clear Path for Veterans is Upstate New York’s Veteran Resource Center, serving as a hub of information, programs and resources. Located just 14 miles east of Syracuse, the Chittenango-based nonprofit relies on partnerships and collaboration, allowing it to act as a single point of contact for active duty, reserve, guard, veterans, and their families to connect them with what they need within 23 counties in New York.
Utica Center for Development’s Central New York Veterans Outreach Center
ucdevelopment.org/veterans-outreach/central-new-york.php
Grant money was used to purchase a newer passenger van to transport veterans for shopping and medical appointments at the Syracuse and Albany VAMC locations. 
The $50,000 grant also supported:
· Purchase of a utility truck to maintain and snow plow driveways of 30 units for homeless veterans
· Deliver food, clothing and household items to those in need
· Provide expanded refrigeration and freezer space to allow for more fresh items in the veteran’s food pantry
· Contact: Vincent Scalise, Executive Director, vscalise@ucdevelopment.org, 315-765-0975
Background:
The Utica Center for Development provides food, clothing and shelter for military veterans and their families. To do this requires a dependable vehicle fleet. Without reliable vehicles, their clients are without transportation, medical appointments are missed, medical equipment is not delivered and donations cannot be picked up.
Central New York Veterans Outreach Center is in the process of creating a resourceful, one-stop facility in Utica for veterans residing throughout Central New York. When complete, this facility would offer, among other services, transitional housing for homeless veterans with permanent housing for disabled and elderly veterans, plus a wide variety of other services.
Feed Our Veterans (Utica. N.Y.)
· The Dominion Energy Charitable Foundation’s $5,000 grant will be used to purchase three big chest freezers to allow pantry to offer more meat and other items
· Feed Our Veterans serves veterans and active duty families in need and allow them to “shop” the pantry shelves and pick out food they need for the coming weeks so they can eat nutritionally and can focus more of their limited incomes on housing and utilities
· Provides gift cards for veterans who don’t live close to the pantries
· Provides services to veterans in Central NY (Albany to Syracuse to Watertown to Binghamton) with most living within a 50-mile radius of Utica
· In 2018, supported 4,020 veterans with nearly 300,000 pounds of food
· Contact: Richard Synek, Executive Director, rich.synek@feedourvets.org, 315-525-9206
Background:
Utica’s Feed Our Veterans program was launched after a veteran entered a post office and asked for a single postage stamp. Employee Rich Synek asked the veteran why just one stamp, and the veteran broke down and confessed he could not afford more than one stamp. He and his wife only had enough money to eat properly for weeks out of each month, and that the last few days of the month, the couple had nothing to eat at all. That night Rich and his wife went out and bought groceries and delivered them to the veteran and is wife.
Today, Feed Our Veterans is designed to allow veterans to “shop” the pantry shelves and pick out food they need for the coming weeks so they can eat nutritionally and can focus more of their limited incomes on housing and utilities. They also provide gift cards for veterans who don’t live close to the pantries.
Background on Dominion Energy:
· Dominion Energy Transmission operates nearly 900 miles of interstate natural gas pipelines in upstate New York, and is the majority supplier of natural gas to local gas distribution companies National Grid, NYSEG and Rochester Gas & Electric in Central New York.
· Dominion Energy has a proud history of supporting veterans
· G.I. Jobs ranked Dominion Energy the highest among energy companies and #5 overall in its 2019 list of top military friendly companies nationwide. It’s the 10th consecutive year Dominion Energy has been identified as a military-friendly company.
o https://www.militaryfriendly.com/employers/
· Nearly 1 in 5 new hires at Dominion Energy is a veteran
· 11% of all employees are veterans
· Our annual Dominion Energy Charity Class golf tournament has raised more than $1.8 million primarily for veterans charities
· 100% salary differential and benefits coverage for up to five years for deployed military employees
· Dominion Energy’s EnergyShare program expanded its partnership with the Department of Veteran Services to include “100 Homes for 100 Veterans,” a joint initiative to provide the Commonwealth of Virginia’s heroes with home weatherization and other improvement upgrades.
· CEO Tom Farrell announced in 2011 the launch of Troops for Energy Jobs, a program designed to help veterans make a successful transition and rewarding career in the energy industry. In 2013, it was launch nationally for all energy and utility companies.