Range Resources Good Neighbor Awards a Success in Washington County
Nearly 500 community members, officials turn out for inaugural meeting
On April 28, 2016, close to 500 members of the community came together to celebrate good work and community service at Range Resources’ first ever Good Neighbor Awards and Appreciation Luncheon. Among those who attended: employees and leaders from more than 200 nonprofit organizations; twenty-plus service companies who regularly partner with Range and donate time and dollars to causes Range supports; over 100 Range employee volunteers; dozens of township supervisors and staff across Washington County; and bipartisan representation from elected officials including United States Congressman Tim Murphy’s office, who presented each winner with a citation, State Representative John Maher, State Representative Brandon Neuman, State Representative Jason Ortitay, Washington County Commissioners Diana Irey Vaughan and Larry Maggi, and PA State Fire Commissioner Tim Solobay. More than a dozen area fire departments were also there; along with school administrators, staff and students from districts throughout Washington County including groups from 4-H and FFA chapters for whom the Good Neighbor Awards served as an educational field trip day. Most of Range’s 35 member, five-region Community Advisory Panel representatives also attended the event.
For Range, it was a chance to honor and acknowledge the individuals and organizations that the Company works closely with who strive every day to make the region an even better place.
“Range has been a great neighbor,” said Pat Joseph, Executive Director of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation of Western Pennsylvania. “Range employees and service providers have become great friends of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. They’ve embraced our story, and they understand that we are going to get to the finish line with this disease, and they are going to be a part of that. You know, we have a pipeline. It’s filled with therapies, and medications that have been proven successful. We never realized that someday we’d partner with a company who also relies on pipelines to successfully deliver energy. And we couldn’t be more grateful.”
Range had a special media partner for the event, the Observer Publishing Company (parent company of Washington County’s daily newspaper, the Observer-Reporter). Lucy Northrop Corwin is Vice President and Director of News and a member of the organization’s board of directors. The paper has been in her family since 1902. Lucy took to the stage immediately prior to the distribution of the awards and addressed the crowd, saying, “When I look back on the stories that have appeared in our paper over the last two centuries, so much has changed, but so many stories are the same. Unrest in the world, ups and downs in the economy, expansion and development, and of course – stories about all of the rich natural resources in southwestern Pennsylvania. Another common thread is all the stories about people who live here, and who give back to the community, donating their time, their resources, their talents and their ideas, to make all of our neighborhoods a better place. So, we’re very proud today to join Range today in congratulating everybody who won an award, and also all of the Range employees who are here and who volunteer in the community.”
The six honorees were a collection of people, organizations and vendors including: the From Alex with Love Foundation; Range Employee Volunteer Merilee Domanick; the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation of Western PA; Service Company Partner Laurel Aggregates; the Greater Washington County Food Bank; and the President and CEO of Community Bank, Pat McCune.
A special section in the May 3rd edition of the Observer-Reporter features articles about each award winner along with a collection of photos from the event. Social media also took notice, as individuals and representatives from several different organizations and elected officials posted about their experiences and thanked Range for hosting.
After each winner accepted their award, the Washington County Commissioners presented a special proclamation, “We would like to thank you for everything that Range Resources has done here in Washington County. Your company has literally been a game changer; you’ve made a difference by working with the hundreds of groups and people here today.”
It was a day that allowed Range to recognize the dedicated partners the Company has in the nonprofit community and in service company partners; as well as the civic leaders who have worked hand in hand with Range, helping to educate and inform the community about the opportunities and benefits the natural gas industry has brought to southwestern Pennsylvania. And in the end, the event was a success for every employee of Range who has ever donated time or dollars via Range or elsewhere, every employee who cares about the communities where they live and work, and every employee who serves as an ambassador for Range in Washington County and beyond. Those efforts were recognized with the smiles, handshakes and abundant goodwill that filled a room of close to 500 community members on April 28th; and the thousands more who read about Range, and our Good Neighbors, in the Observer-Reporter, on-line and on social media.
Range’s Matt Pitzarella concluded the day with “We realize that we may make mistakes and we don’t profess to be perfect, but our goal is to work as hard as possible each and every day to be good neighbors in the communities where we live and work. And that would be impossible without the people and organizations in the room here today who dedicate their time, talents and their hard earned dollars to help others. Thank you Washington County.”
Read more about each Good Neighbor Award winner below.