VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. - Virginia Natural Gas is donating $35,000 to local agencies that provide assistance to veterans, active military and their families in the region, in honor of Veteran's Day.
Donations will be made to the USO of Hampton Roads and Central Virginia, United Way of South Hampton Roads – Mission United, The Honor Foundation, American Red Cross of Coastal Virginia, Not Forgotten – Quilts of Valor and the Armed Services YMCA.
“We honor everyone who serve and remember those who have ever worn a uniform to protect and defend our country and freedoms we enjoy today,” said Robert Duvall, president of Virginia Natural Gas. “And it takes organizations like these to invest back into the men and women that have touched our lives by selflessly defending American ideals and values.”
Virginia Natural Gas donations will give support to the following beneficiary organizations and their objectives:
- USO of Hampton Roads and Central Virginia – help keep service members connected to family, home and country locally and around the world.
- United Way of South Hampton Roads - Mission United – connect veterans and their families to critical resources such as housing, food, employment and transportation throughout the community.
- The Honor Foundation – provide a comprehensive transition program to help military members from the Special Operations Commands of Virginia Beach achieve post-military employment.
- American Red Cross of Coastal Virginia – assist with emergency communications and financial needs, as well as recovery and rehabilitation programs to active-duty military members through the Representatives at Naval Medical Center Portsmouth and Hampton Veterans Medical Center.
- Not Forgotten – Quilts of Valor – give hand-made quilts to service members and veterans touched by war with comforting and healing quilts of valor.
- The Armed Services YMCA – provide no-cost and low-cost child care to junior enlisted households in Hampton Roads. The program offers supervision during virtual learning and additional learning activities at their regional office in Virginia Beach
The Armed Services YMCA says this donation could not come at a better time.
“We’ve had to reduce our overall capacity and separate the children into smaller groups for our camps,” said Laura Baxter, Executive Director for the Armed Services YMCA. “With a decrease in funding, it would have been extremely challenging to purchase identical items for each of our four classrooms. Thanks to VNG, we were able to provide our military children all that they needed for a fun and educational experience.”
VNG has been recognized for its efforts to recruit and hire military veterans.
VNG and its parent company, Southern Company, also have received top rankings from Military Times’ annual Best for Vets: Employers list.
The company also recently launched its newest employee resource group, VetNet.
“We take great pride in our military, whether still serving on active duty or transitioning to the civilian workforce, along with all our veterans who have served our grateful nation,” added Duvall. “We are passionate about our involvement with the military community because many of our customers, our employees and friends are veterans and have military connections.”
