AEP employees thanked for volunteering with Meals-on-Wheels program

Shown above are (front row, left to right): Sherry Hill of AEP and Pauli Tice of LifeCare Alliance; (back row): Rich Mueller of AEP and Chuck Gehring of LifeCare Alliance.

AEP employees in central Ohio were recently thanked for delivering nutritious meals and friendly visits through LifeCare Alliance’s Meals-on-Wheels programm Rich Mueller, vice president – Audit Services and Executive Champ for the Meals-on-Wheels program at AEP, sponsored two appreciation breakfasts for the approximately 100 employees, one at AEP Headquarters and one in Gahanna.

LCA provides health and nutrition services to the homes of aged and chronically ill individuals. AEP volunteers from the Arena building, Gahanna offices and 1 Riverside Plaza deliver meals five days a week during their lunch hours.

AEP is starting its 10th year of participation in the Corporate Route program. AEP now has four delivery routes. Deliveries are made to residents at Jaycee Arms and Nazareth Tower, two housing complexes for senior citizens in downtown Columbus. AEP volunteers also deliver on driving routes in Gahanna and on the west side of Columbus.

“AEP’s volunteer efforts save LifeCare Alliance, a not-for-profit organization, $48,000 to $60,000 annually,” Mueller said. In addition to the Meals-on-Wheels volunteers, AEP has supported LifeCare Alliance by funding the purchase of new cooking kettles and providing in-kind print services.

Chuck Gehring, LifeCare Alliance president and chief executive officer; Pauli Tice, LCA director of volunteer services, and Andrea Albanese Denning, LCA vice president of advancement, attended the breakfasts to thank AEP employees for volunteering to deliver meals during the week — often a difficult time to find volunteers to assist.

AEP employee Sherry Hill, regulatory consultant with AEP Ohio Regulatory Affairs, serves as Corporate Route Coordinator for the AEP volunteers, and has done so since the program began. Hill is very dedicated to this program and contributes greatly to making it a success. “We are always looking for more volunteers,” she said. If you are interested in volunteering, send an email to Hill at slhill@aep.com.

Other groups of AEP employees also take part in similar volunteer services to help provide food to underserved groups in various communities, including:

• Members of the Public Service Company of Oklahoma (PSO) employee association serve meals at the Salvation Army Day Center for the Homeless in Tulsa.
• Kentucky Power employees have joined the Big Sandy Area Development District to deliver hundreds of meals to residents of Pike County, Kentucky.
• People Helping People, a nonprofit organization consisting of Indiana Michigan Power’s Tanners Creek Plant employees, retirees and contractors, collect and deliver thousands of cans of food annually to local food pantries in the Dearborn County, Indiana, area.
• The combined AEP-IBEW Local 1466 campaign annually partners with the Central Ohio Operation Feed campaign to collect food and funds for the Mid-Ohio FoodBank, which serves 20 counties in central and southeast Ohio.