Local power authority PSEG recently pulled together to show gratitude for this country’s veterans.
Three military veterans, who are also linemen for PSEG Long Island, were among eight kayakers who recently paddled 22 miles from Bridgeport, CT, to Port Jefferson to raise awareness about PTSD and suicide. The U.S. Army and Marine Corp veterans were participants in the “22 PTSD Awareness Challenge” (PAC) kayak event, a 22-mile, cross-sound kayak event aimed at increasing PTSD awareness and helping mental illness-related nonprofit organizations reach community members in need.
More than a dozen PSEG Long Island employees volunteered at the event, including the kayakers: Glen Brewster of Patchogue (U.S. Marine Corps), Tom Gross of Mattituck (U.S. Army) and Austin Lipari of Bay Shore (U.S. Army). The other employee volunteers were on the chase boats that rode with the paddlers to ensure their safety or waited at the finish line to greet and cheer on the kayakers at the end of their trip.
PSEG Long Island employee, Tom Gross, who is a member of the U.S. Army 82nd Airborne Infantry division, was one of the kayakers.
“It was an honor to serve my country and it continues to be an honor to serve my fellow veterans,” said Gross. “Seeing the tremendous outpouring of support from my fellow PSEG Long Island coworkers shows how dedicated our company is to the communities we serve and to our veterans. It really warmed my heart.”
PSEG Long Island is committed to giving back to the people and communities it serves. Employee engagement on Long Island and the Rockaways is a top priority for the company. PSEG Long Island employees are actively involved with local charity events and organizations through the company’s Community Partnership Program. In 2017, PSEG Long Island participated in 1,100 events supporting more than 400 organizations. The utility also supports military veterans with an employee business resource group specifically for the veteran community and its supporters. For more information, visit www.psegliny.com/page.cfm/community.
Meanwhile, 20 employee volunteers from PSEG Long Island’s Power Markets group left their laptops in the office recently and headed to the Northport VA Medical Center in Northport to do some outdoor beautification.
The temperature was less than 50 degrees but that didn’t stop the group of men and women from putting on their work gloves to rake, shovel, sweep, weed and mulch the lovely Vietnam Veterans Memorial Garden and Wall of Wars memorial for veterans and visitors to enjoy.
At the end of the day, one employee volunteer quipped, “Take off your shoes before walking in here,” because the bricks on the ground around the monument were so clean.
For the PSEG Long Island Power Markets department, it was a team-building activity, one with the added purpose of saying thank you and giving back to our military heroes.
It is part of the mission of PSEG Long Island to give back to the communities it serves. Employees are actively involved with local charity events and organizations through the company’s Community Partnership Program and last year volunteered 24,860 hours in more 1,100 large and small events for 400 organizations across the utility’s service area.
