SJI Employee Veterans Collect Food to Help Military Families

SJI salutes our Veterans Engagement Team (VETS) for helping collect nearly 3,800 lbs. of food for the Red Cross Service to Armed Forces program.

VETS organized a food drive with the Red Cross by setting up collection points throughout New Jersey over February 27-28. VETS encouraged customers, employees and families from SJI’s utility companies South Jersey Gas and Elizabethtown Gas to drop off non-perishable items. Volunteers then delivered several truckloads of food to the Red Cross for distribution at the Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst.

VETS is an employee resource group at SJI that supports the personal growth and professional development of former servicemen and women. The Red Cross Service to Armed Forces program provides home comforts and critical services on bases, in military hospitals and supports military families during deployments and emergencies.

“I’m so proud to work for a company that steps up every time we have a call to action,” said Donna Schempp, SJI’s VP of Enterprise Project Management. “As a Red Cross Board member, I can’t tell you how thankful the Red Cross is to have received this donation of food at a time when donations are at the lowest point following the holidays.  It’s hard to believe that military families face food insecurities, but it’s a sad reality during these COVID times. Thank you to all who participated.”

SJI would like to thank all the generous donors who dropped of food at collection points, all the volunteers who stood outside in the rain for two days loading and unloading all 3,800 pounds of food, and a special thanks to Barnegat Cub Scout Pack #26 Arrow of Light for collecting dozens of bags filled with food.

For more information about SJI and its subsidiaries, please visit sjindustries.com.