Chesapeake Energy 2011 Annual Report Download - page 27

Shedding light and cheer
Oklahoma City became a little brighter during the
holiday season with Chesapeake’s donation of 10,000
strands of holiday lights to local organizations and
schools. The incandescent lights had adorned the
company’s Oklahoma City campus until 2009, when
they were replaced with energy-saving LED lights.
One of the organizations that benefited from the
donation was the City Rescue Mission, which provides
basic needs to homeless people, including food, shel-
ter and community resources. The lights were placed
on every Christmas tree inside the mission, making
the holidays a little more festive for shelter residents.
“Those who are homeless or in troubled situations
can’t experience the holidays the way many of us do,”
said Tiany Webb, Director of Development for the
shelter. “The donation allowed us to make this place
seem more like a home for them, and being able to
do that was very special for us.”
COMMUNITY IMPACT
In every area where Chesapeake operates, we’ve
earned a reputation as a consistent and generous
community partner. From providing funding for local
symphonies to supplying water bottles at softball events,
Chesapeake looks for meaningful ways to give back.
Sometimes that means writing a check or donating com-
puters, and other
times that means
giving employees
company time to
volunteer in their
communities.
For many non-
profit organizations,
securing resources
to complete their
missions presents a constant challenge. Chesapeake works
closely with our neighbors to see how we can recycle
some of our resources. The company provided several
in-kind donations in 2011, from reconditioned fleet trucks
to Christmas lights. By passing on serviceable used re-
sources, we provide much-needed items for numerous
nonprofit organizations.
We also encourage employees to give back, and we
make it easy through annual fundraising drives where
Chesapeake matches employee contri-
butions. Employees dug deep this year
in the annual United Way drive, with
the company matching every donation
dollar for dollar. Company-wide United
Way contributions were $6.3 million,
with $5.5 million raised for the United
Way’s Central Oklahoma chapter alone,
by far the largest single contribution to
the $22.2 million campaign.
Putting food on the table while re-
ducing our environmental footprint is
made possible through Chesapeake’s
Employee Garden. Located on the com-
pany’s Oklahoma City headquarters
campus is a two-acre garden where
almost 300 employees grow organic
produce. The garden not only provides
a fun atmosphere for employees to
build relationships outside of the oce,
it also allows them to grow their own
produce and teaches them about health
and sustainability. In addition, Chesa-
peake’s restaurants provide waste to
the garden’s on-site compost. There
are also five plots devoted to growing produce for local
food pantries. Employee volunteers tend these gardens
as another way to positively impact their communities by
providing healthy, fresh food.
2011 Annual Report | 25
Operation Blue makes a dierence
Each year as part of the Chesapeake H.E.L.P. Initiative, employees
are allowed to use four hours of company time in a summer vol-
unteer push — Operation Blue — named for the brightly colored
H.E.L.P. Initiative shirts
that flood dozens of
communities during
the targeted event. For
the third year in a row,
employees got their
hands dirty in their local
communities through
a variety of service
projects including
restoring playgrounds,
sorting clothes at infant
crisis centers, serving
meals at shelters and
more. In summer 2011, employees logged more than 31,000 hours
through Operation Blue, assisting 444 nonprofit organizations in
122 communities across the United States. Their eorts pushed
the year-round H.E.L.P. Initiative total to 42,000 hours.
Company-wide United
Way contributions
were $6.3 million, with
$5.5 million raised for
the United Way’s Central
Oklahoma chapter alone.
2011 IN-KIND DONATIONS
95 laptops
105 desktops
54 Chesapeake fleet
vehicles
10,000 strands of
Christmas lights
50,000 bottles of water
1,800 pounds of
Employee Garden
produce
4,700 pounds of
food from the
Restaurants at
Chesapeake
$75,000 in oce supplies
$150,000 in CHK Store
items