PLH GROUP NEWS
PLH Employees Show “Love for Kids” at Recent Safety Summit
Date: December 4, 2015
When 93 PLH Group Company employees from all over the United States and Canada descended on Grapevine, Texas, just before Thanksgiving, their primary purpose was to attend the PLH Group’s annual Safety, Health and Environmental Summit. But while they focused on safety in pipeline and power line construction and maintenance, they didn’t forget to be thankful for what they had and think of those with less during the holidays.
Through donations and a charity auction, these PLH Group employees raised nearly $2,200 to benefit Love for Kids, a nonprofit organization with the mission “to enrich the quality of life for children within the Dallas community by giving them a chance to realize their potential.”
“PLH Group encourages its business units throughout the U.S. and Canada to give back to the local communities in which they work,” said Matt Compher, PLH Senior Vice President of Safety, Health and Environmental, “so naturally the employees who attended the summit wanted to support such a worthy cause in its own headquarters community.”
Established in 1975, Love for Kids is currently preparing for its 40th Annual Holiday Children’s Event on December 12 at the Circle R Ranch in Flower Mound, Texas, where it will host approximately 2,000 underserved and at-risk children ages six to 12, for a day of horseback riding, face painting, games, music, food and fun. Each child will also receive a gift and visit education stations to learn about bicycle and helmet safety, drug prevention, obesity, oral hygiene and other health-related topics.
At the PLH Safety Summit, the first round of fundraising for Love for Kids involved simple monetary donations from attendees. Each person who donated received an entry in a drawing to win a Bass Pro Shops gift card, a free night at the Embassy Suites, a pencil sketch by artist Timmy Viola of Auger Services or a quilt that was handmade and donated to the event by Teresa Schneider of PLH’s DOT Department.
The evening event took an interesting turn when the person who won the quilt donated it back for the next round of fundraising, a charity auction. Joining the quilt as popular items up for sale was a second pencil sketch by Timmy Viola. The sketch and quilt combined brought in $800 in the bidding, which was run by Jeret Whitescarver, Safety Director of Snelson Companies who happens to possess professional auctioneer skills.
“People got excited when the auctioneer’s chant started, and the bidding became pretty competitive,” Compher said. “Everyone had a great time, and we couldn’t be prouder of how our people gave so much to help the children of the Dallas area.”
Successful bidders in the auction included Eddie Ramos of Southeast Directional Drilling, who took home the quilt for $300, and Rufus White and Kacey Cox, representatives from The Health Bridge, a vendor at the Safety Summit, who paid $500 for one of the two sketches.
