The sign over the office at Syracuse’s Samaritan Center reads, “Community Food Compassion.” It’s a tall order for the volunteer-driven organization, which provides hot meals twice a day to the less fortunate, and one that has driven their work since opening in 1981.

National Grid employees made their annual visit to the Samaritan Center in early December to decorate the dining area for the holidays as part of the company’s Season of Giving, a statewide initiative to give back to our communities during the holidays.

“Our Season of Giving activities are employee driven,” said Alberto Bianchetti, regional director of customer and external affairs for National Grid. “Trees, lights and wreaths add a bit of warmth and holiday spirit to the Samaritan Center, and it’s one of the many times our colleagues volunteer during the year to support the center’s clients.

“National Grid employees live in the communities where they work and when the opportunity is there to serve and give back to our customers, there’s never a lack of volunteers who stand up,” Bianchetti added.

The Samaritan Center was just one of numerous community organizations in Central New York supported by National Grid during the holiday season:

For the third consecutive year, National Grid employees assembled Thanksgiving food boxes for distribution to individuals and organizations as part of Brady Social Enterprises’ Heat and Eat campaign. Each box contained a turkey, potatoes, stuffing, vegetables, dessert, as well as oil, butter, a roasting pan and everything else one might need to prepare a meal. Company employees will be back in December to put together Christmas food boxes. National Grid provided a $7,500 donation to Brady Social Enterprises to support these efforts.

The company also contributed $1,000 to the YWCA Mohawk Valley’s holiday meals campaign. The funds were used to provide meals to families in the organization’s residential programs at the holidays. A similar effort by our Electric Complex Project Management team took place at the Syracuse Northeast Community Center to fund and assemble 100 Thanksgiving food baskets that were distributed to families it serves. The department has aided the center’s efforts for more than four years as a team activity. National Grid also provided $1,000 to sponsor a staff and client holiday meal celebration at Church on the Rock in Oneida.

National Grid will provide a large volunteer presence at the Salvation Army of Syracuse’s Christmas Bureau. Dozens of employees turn out each year to work all three shifts at the annual event, restocking tables, assisting families with their choices, and helping them pack up to go home. National Grid also provided a $10,000 corporate sponsorship to support the program. The Christmas Bureau provides Christmas food and toys to nearly 10,000 people each year.

One longstanding employee-led project was participating in the McMahon/Ryan Child Advocacy Center’s Holiday Angel program. National Grid provided clothes, gifts and personal items to support 41 children, from age 17 to one-month. The company also provided support to adopt-a-family and gift drives with the Salvation Army in Herkimer, Rome and Utica, as well as Integrated Community Alternatives Network, or ICAN, in Utica. 

About National Grid

National Grid (NYSE: NGG) is an electricity, natural gas, and clean energy delivery company serving more than 20 million people through our networks in New York and Massachusetts. National Grid is focused on building a smarter, stronger, cleaner energy future — transforming our networks with more reliable and resilient energy solutions to meet state climate goals and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.