SoCalGas Employees Give $23,000 Grant to Los Angeles Homeless Shelter & Development Center, The Midnight Mission

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Southern California Gas Co. (SoCalGas) & The Midnight Mission today announced SoCalGas employees' contribution of nearly $23,000 to The Midnight Mission in support of its programs. SoCalGas presented a check to The Midnight Mission on January 16 in recognition of the grant. In addition to the grant, SoCalGas employees will ring in the new year by continuing their tradition of volunteering at The Midnight Mission. For the last six years, SoCalGas employees have traveled to the shelter, located in the heart of Skid Row, every Friday to volunteer and support the shelter's mission. SoCalGas employee, Marco Tachiquin, spreads awareness of the volunteer opportunity among employees and has led the effort for the last six years.

"SoCalGas recognizes the important work The Midnight Mission is doing within the Los Angeles community in helping those in need to get back on track, and we are committed to assisting this organization in whatever way we can," said Jawaad Malik, Vice President of Gas Acquisition at SoCalGas. "We believe that it is important to support our most vulnerable friends and neighbors, and we are thrilled not only to provide this grant to The Midnight Mission but also to be a part of their organization through our volunteer work."

From 2016 to 2019, SoCalGas employees have volunteered nearly 75,000 hours of their time and given over $3.2 million through payroll deductions to community organizations. SoCalGas has contributed over six thousand logged volunteer hours to The Midnight Mission since 2014 with over 1,300 volunteers.

The Midnight Mission, founded in 1914, is a comprehensive homeless shelter and homeless services provider that offers a path to self-sufficiency for men, women, and children experiencing homelessness in Los Angeles. The organization offers the structure and the resources that people experiencing homelessness need to truly improve their lives.

Gas Company employee Marco Tachiquin, a project manager in the Pipeline Safety Enhancement department, leads the volunteer effort each Friday and has done so since 2014. The company's gas acquisition department has also begun organizing clothing auctions to raise money for The Midnight Mission and started the employee grant for the non-profit, which over the years has expanded to the entire gas company.

"This is an effort that is very important to me," said Marco Tachiquin. "I feel that it is my responsibility to help make a difference in someone's life because I'm lucky enough to be able to. Giving up a couple of hours each week is the least I can do to make a difference, and I am grateful to all of the SoCalGas employees who show up each week and have done so for the past six years. In numbers, we make a much bigger impact – it's a team effort."

"Gratitude in action can help create bridges to significant transformation," said Midnight Mission President & CEO Mike Arnold.  "We are so proud to work with the extraordinary employees from SoCalGas who volunteer with us year-round, supporting our basic needs programming and helping us to provide pathways to self-sufficiency to those experiencing the tragedy of homelessness. This grant will have an incredible impact on our organization and the thousands of individuals and families we serve each day, many of whom are still living on our streets, hungry and without a home. We are deeply grateful for our partnership with SoCalGas."

Please see photos from the check presentation event here.

About The Midnight Mission

Founded in 1914, The Midnight Mission offers paths to self-sufficiency to men, women and children who have lost direction. Our emergency services and 12-step recovery, family living, job training, education and workforce development programs offer a compassionate bridge to achieve and maintain healthy, productive lives.  We remove obstacles and provide the accountability and structure that people who are experiencing homelessness need to be productive in their communities. Our conviction and commitment to their success define us. For additional information, please visit www.midnightmission.org.

About SoCalGas

Headquartered in Los Angeles, SoCalGas® is the largest gas distribution utility in the United States. SoCalGas delivers affordable, reliable, clean and increasingly renewable gas service to 21.8 million customers across 24,000 square miles of Central and Southern California, where more than 90 percent of residents use gas for heating, hot water, cooking, drying clothes or other uses. Gas delivered through the company's pipelines also plays a key role in providing electricity to Californians— about 45 percent of electric power generated in the state comes from gas-fired power plants. 

SoCalGas' vision is to be the cleanest gas utility in North America, delivering affordable and increasingly renewable energy to its customers. In support of that vision, SoCalGas is committed to replacing 20 percent of its traditional gas supply with renewable gas (RNG) by 2030. Renewable gas is made from waste created by dairy farms, landfills and wastewater treatment plants. SoCalGas is also committed to investing in its gas system infrastructure while keeping bills affordable for our customers. From 2014 through 2018, the company invested nearly $6.5 billion to upgrade and modernize its gas system to enhance safety and reliability. SoCalGas is a subsidiary of Sempra Energy (NYSE: SRE), an energy services holding company based in San Diego. For more information visit socalgas.com/newsroom or connect with SoCalGas on Twitter (@SoCalGas), Instagram (@SoCalGas) and Facebook. 

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SOURCE Southern California Gas Company