All Hands on Deck

It began as a discussion about assisting Buffalo and Erie County Naval and Military Park with some lighting projects.

It ended with the largest day of volunteerism at the park, with more than 130 National Grid employees chipping in to kick off our week of service on Sept. 11.

The massive day of volunteerism was held at the park and museum, which is home to the destroyer USS The Sullivans, guided missile cruiser USS Little Rock and the WWII submarine USS Croaker (SSK-246).

National Grid Regional Director Ken Kujawa described the event as an opportunity to give back to the communities that we serve.

“The organization originally asked if we could help with some lighting projects; but as we continued to have conversations they gave us a list of things that needed to be done to bring the Sullivans and Little Rock up to speed,” Kujawa said, adding that to be able to kick off our annual week of service on Sept. 11, “We couldn’t think of a better place to start than here. This was a chance to give back to the park.” 

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National Grid employees build a new deck on the USS Little Rock.

Around 130 National Grid employees worked on the ships and submarine to replace gaskets, build a deck, remove rust, paint, improve lighting and run electrical wire. They were joined by employees from Highmark Inc. and Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus, whose work provided a long-lasting impact on the ships and facilities.

During the week of Sept. 11, more than 1,000 National Grid employees gave back to their communities to celebrate a Week of Service across the company’s 26,000-square-mile New York service area. The initiative is part of Project C, National Grid’s Community Commitment to:

* Connect our Communities to clean energy
* Care for our neighborhoods and their revitalization
* Compassionately address the challenges that our customers face, including environmental justice and social equity.
* Create the workforce that will help build New York’s clean energy delivery system.
* Collaborate with our Customers, community partners, stakeholders and so many others to deliver the clean, fair, resilient and affordable energy future.