As we welcome the New Year with promise, we would like to take the time to highlight the incredible work and dedication to our community that occurred throughout 2024.

It’s hard to believe that 2024 has come and gone, but we can assure you that although time passed quickly, we packed in lots of philanthropic activities that helped local organizations and our neighbors in the communities where we live and work.

We are excited to see what 2025 will bring and look forward to working with organizations near and dear to our hearts and those that will be new to us this year.

To kick-off 2024, UGIES employees volunteered on January 15^th at the Martin Luther King volunteer event at Helping Harvest. Here, they packed senior boxes with the Reading branch of the NAACP. In February, we participated in the Veterans Coalition of PA – Neil Kaufman Veterans Support House Tour. Read more about these events in our Memorial Day 2024 blog post.

As spring arrived, our team joined the Animal Rescue League on April 29 to clean kennels and cages, assist with laundry, cleaning dishes, sweeping, mopping, organizing the garage, and sorting linens. As explained by their mission statement, “We protect animals, provide a safe haven and promote innovative programs and services to help both people and animals in need throughout Berks County.” To learn more about the Berks Animal Rescue League, check out their website.

The month of May brought several activities to our crew of readied helpers. Starting with the Veterans Coalition of PA Event on May 8, where volunteers mowed, moved furniture, removed trees, swept and mopped floors, trimmed shrubs, raked leaves, and organized food pantry items. On the 14^th, we hosted a donation drive for New Journey, where we collected canned goods and non-perishable foods. New Journey Community Outreach provides essential food and clothing services for low-income and moderate-income individuals in the Reading, PA community. Closing out May, our Accounting and Finance teams packed food boxes for seniors at a Helping Harvest volunteer event.

In August, we hosted a back-to-school drive for Opportunity House. We collected backpacks and school supplies for residents. Opportunity House provides security, stability, safety, and community to the clients it serves—learn more here.

The month of September was packed with philanthropic activities. Our Veteran Employee Team raised funds for Suicide Prevention Month with a T-shirt sale. On the 10^th, our Canonsburg Office volunteered at Community Circle Food Pantry in Washington County where they packaged 100+ food boxes to serve over 80 families. On the 11^th, many employees took part in the United Way of Berks County’s Annual Day of Caring. Employees participating volunteered at events at various local organizations.

• At Hawk Mountain, volunteers took part in weed trimming, removing shingles from the roof, splitting firewood, cutting brush, painting the exterior of the building, cleaning the dining hall, and installing a pool cover.
• At South Mountain YMCA, our group helped with trail clean-up, weeding, and weed whacking, disk golf clean-up and prep, pool/mini golf clean-up, gaga pit construction, wood splitting, and bench painting.
• At 18th Wonder, volunteers reset the kids’ play zone by adding new structures, removing broken wood chips, and adding new ones. They also had a steppingstone painting station to add some fun walks in the play zone.
• At Ready. Set. Read! our group prepared books and materials for the program.

On the 18^th, we hosted a United Way Campaign employee activity where our employees packed educational kits for preschool centers in Berks County. For more details, check out our “Season of Service” blog post.

The month of October continued to be a busy month. On the 16^th, UGI’s Women Impact Network hosted a Pink Out for Breast Cancer Awareness Month with a t-shirt sale. Over $7,000 was raised in support of the American Cancer Society and other Breast Cancer Research organizations. And on the 30^th, our Canonsburg Office employees volunteered at City Mission, serving lunch to residents, as well as donating food to City Mission Samaritan Care Food Pantry.

As we moved into November, the spirit of the holidays was upon us and on the 6^th, we hosted a basket raffle, raising funds for Wreaths Across America. Next, on the 21^st, we hosted a Thanksgiving donation drive benefitting the Salvation Army – Reading Corps.

Wrapping up the year, in December we continued our tradition of participating in the Salvation Army Angel Tree Program (read more in our blog post). Our western PA offices collected toys for Toys for Tots of Greene County, PA on the 12^th. On the 14^th, we participated in Wreaths Across America. And employee, Trish DeFeo worked with her Church (St Peter's Roman Catholic Church in Merchantville, NJ) to collect, wrap, organize, and distribute gifts for the Camden Mission. Her work alongside other volunteers produced toys for 47 families with over 105 gifts.

We look back on 2024 with very fond memories of the organizations we have worked with and can’t wait to see what 2025 has in store for us!