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March 9, 2010
Naperville, IL – Today Nicor announced the results of its 2009 philanthropy endeavors, which resulted in more than $2 million in corporate and employee financial donations – and thousands of volunteer hours – benefiting more than 1,200 worthy causes in communities throughout northern Illinois.
"I am very proud to be part of a team that truly cares about the well-being of its communities. Nicor and its employees not only gave this year, but they exceeded fundraising goals. That type of commitment is admirable and appreciated by so many – especially during these tough economic times," said Claudia Colalillo, Senior Vice President Human Resources and Corporate Philanthropy for Nicor Inc. & Nicor Gas.
United Way, for the first time in the company's history, in 2009 Nicor was included in the United Way's Metropolitan Chicago's Top 25 Corporate Citizens list. The company and its employees donated more than $1 million – exceeding the fundraising goal by nearly $20,000 – to Nicor's annual United Way campaign and achieved a 76% rate of participation from employees.
Adventures in Reading with Nicor, the company's signature philanthropic program, is designed to foster a life-long love of reading among children. Nicor provides free books to students and parents, professional development training for teachers, special coaching sessions for parents, and motivational prizes and activities with assembly presentations featuring Super Reader, Nicor's costumed superhero, at participating schools. The program launched in 2006, and since then it has encouraged students to read more than 130,000 books.
The Adventures in Reading with Nicor program continued to flourish at Cicero West Elementary School in Cicero, Sykuta Elementary School in Country Club Hills, and Smith Elementary School in Aurora. Students at these schools read approximately 50,000 books during the 2008-2009 school year.
Nicor and its employees also demonstrated their generosity throughout 2009 by giving back to the communities in which they live and serve in a variety of additional ways:
- Nicor's 13th Annual Volunteer Day
Nearly 1,000 employees, friends and family members participated in our annual Volunteer Day, completing 24 service projects in 22 communities. In addition to the volunteers performing a variety of community service activities, including landscape renovation, outdoor cleaning activities, sorting food and household goods for families in need, planting greenery, gardening, painting, river clean-up, and repair work, Nicor also provided $5,000 capital grants to the Northern Illinois Food Bank in St. Charles and the DuPage Habitat for Humanity.
- March of Dimes
As the site sponsor for the DuPage March for Babies walk site, Nicor and its employees broke their previous registration record when more than 450 Nicor participants signed-up for the annual March of Dimes March for Babies. Employees raised nearly $60,000 in donations to help save babies, ranking Nicor 8th in Illinois.
- Nicor Gas Sharing Program
Together in 2009, Nicor Gas, its employees, and customers helped nearly 2,000 customers keep people warm by contributing to the Sharing Program, a home heating assistance program administered by the Salvation Army. Since the program's inception in 1983, the program has raised nearly $14 million in assistance for more than 79,000 families who did not qualify for government assistance but needed financial support to help pay their gas bills.
- Illinois Dollars for Scholars
Nicor Gas is proud to be a founding corporate sponsor of Illinois Dollars for Scholars. Since 1997, Nicor Gas has granted more than $550,000 in incentive grants to help establish Dollars for Scholars Chapters in Illinois. As a result, over the last decade, Nicor Gas chapters have raised more than $6.5 million and have distributed $2.85 million to over 4,000 students.
- Coats for Kids
Nicor National sponsored "Coats for Kids" in cooperation with the Urban Youth Ministry division of Wayside Cross Ministries of Aurora. With the participation of 81 employees, 103 winter coats were donated to children in need throughout Kane, Kendall, and DuPage Counties.
- Matching Gift and Volunteer in Partnership Grants
Nicor employees utilized the corporation's Matching Gifts program to double their gifts and generate a combined $121,500 in donations to support various local and national non-profit organizations. In support of its employee volunteer efforts, Nicor gave more than $22,000 in Volunteer in Partnership grants. These grants support nonprofit organizations that have Nicor employees as volunteers.
- Chicagovolunteer.net
Nicor is the founding corporate sponsor of Community Resource Network's chicagovolunteer.net, a Web site that brings together volunteers with more than 4,200 volunteer opportunities posted each day. With Nicor's support, the Web site received more than 1.1 million hits in 2009.
"At Nicor, we believe it is important to take a leadership role by sponsoring and participating in philanthropic efforts that provide community service, financial assistance, promote education and volunteerism. Every year we work together to build better communities and accomplish part of our mission which is to contribute to their well-being and that's just what we did in 2009," said Colalillo.
To learn more about Nicor's philanthropic programs, visit www.nicor.com or contact Julian Brown, Manager of Corporate Contributions at 630-388-2763.
Nicor Inc. (NYSE: GAS) is a holding company and is a member of the Standard & Poor's 500 Index. Its primary business is Nicor Gas, one of the nation's largest natural gas distribution companies. Nicor owns Tropical Shipping, a containerized shipping business serving the Caribbean region and the Bahamas. In addition, the company owns and has an equity interest in several energy-related businesses. For more information, visit the Nicor Web site at www.nicor.com. |
