Imagine: You and your children are spending the holidays in a domestic violence shelter where you have arrived with only the clothes on your backs. Or perhaps you are now living in safety but you’re working reduced hours at your job because of the COVID-19 pandemic and you’re barely making ends meet. How will you give your kids a happy holiday?
This is the question that was put before Olympus Energy employees by the Women’s Center & Shelter of Greater Pittsburgh in early December as the team was making plans to celebrate the holiday season with families of their own.
“Olympus is a small company with a big heart,” said Communication Specialist Ashley Mikelonis. “Our team shuddered at the thought of parents struggling to provide for their families during the holidays. It was our instinct to help.”
The team quickly joined forces with WC&S to create happier holidays for women and children who are survivors of domestic violence through its Adopt-a-Family program, which is in its tenth year.
“One of WC&S’ core values is to empower survivors to make their own choices, so we want them to have the freedom to shop for their own children,” said Jake Phillips, Development Associate. “By donating funds that can go toward gift cards for survivors, Olympus has provided them the opportunity to delight in the experience of purchasing and giving presents to their children.”
Within one week, the Olympus Adopt-a-Family Fund generated more than $9,000 in donations and several boxes of necessities for women and children who reside at the shelter.
“It’s easy to lose sight of impact when making monetary donations to organizations around the holidays,” said Mikelonis. “This project was different. For every donation made to our fund, we could envision a mother experience the joy of seeing her child’s face light up when they opened the present she searched for high and low.”
About Olympus Energy
Olympus Energy LLC (“Olympus”) is a privately-held energy company headquartered in Canonsburg that specializes in upstream and midstream development of natural gas resources in the Appalachian Basin. Olympus has a scalable asset base in southwestern Pennsylvania, having assembled over 100,000 largely contiguous and operated acres within the core Marcellus, Utica, and Upper Devonian fairways. Visit www.olympusenergy.com for additional information.
