Mon Power employees "Cram the Van" to fight hunger in Preston County

Jul. 17—KINGWOOD — Preston County families who face food insecurity have new options when in need.

Employees at Mon Power's Fort Martin Power Station in Maidsville, West Virginia, collected about 2,000 pounds of food during a recent event called "Cram the Van."

The food drive allowed volunteers at the Raymond Wolfe Center pantry in Kingwood to restock their shelves so they can help those in need.

The large donation comes at a time when many Preston County families with children are out of school and, for many, school is the only time they receive two hot meals a day.

The effort to collect food items at the power plant began months before summer as part of FirstEnergy's Harvest for Hunger campaign, which ran throughout the spring. Harvest for Hunger is one of the largest annual, community-wide food and fundraising drives in the nation. Its mission is to collect food and funds for local hunger centers, like the Raymond Wolfe Center.

During the school year, the West Virginia Department of Education estimates that children in 50 of the state's 55 counties have access to free meals at school. This provided a unique opportunity for Mon Power employees to help put food on the tables for local families, bridging the gap through the summer break.

"To think a child may go hungry simply because they are not in school is heartbreaking," Mon Power Engineer Kameron Miller-Hickey said. "We recognize that families in our local community struggle with hunger, especially during the summer months, and we want to be part of the solution."

Fort Martin employees called the event "Cram the Van" because they filled a truck with food items throughout the spring. At the end of the event, they weighed the donated food, and the plant's managers and superintendents fulfilled their pledge to match employee donations. This year, enough food was collected to feed about 27 families for a week.

"The donation from Fort Martin comes at the perfect time for us to be able to help fill that gap for families during the summer," Raymond Wolfe Outreach Coordinator Alix Evans said. "This food also helps us address increased need due to a recent post-pandemic reduction in the amount of food stamps given to low-income families."

Since 2010, FirstEnergy employees have raised $4 million as a part of the Harvest for Hunger Campaign, the equivalent of more than 29 million meals for food pantries in Mon Power's territory. Other FirstEnergy employee-led fundraising initiatives this year included silent auctions, cornhole tournaments and volunteering at professional sporting events to raise funds for the company's campaign.