CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – Oct. 25, 2016 – To help Southeast Texas students start off the school year on the right foot, volunteers from the CITGO Corpus Christi Refinery packed and donated 200 backpacks with school supplies as part of the 4th Annual Abel Herrero School Supplies Giveaway at the Robstown High School Auditorium.
“School supplies are instrumental to the success of students embarking on a new school year,” said Texas State Representative Abel Herrero, who represents the 34th District in the Texas House of Representatives. “Thanks to the involvement of Corpus Christi institutions like CITGO, we were able to help more than 1,000 local students through this year’s giveaway, making this our most successful event yet.”
Hosted by Rep. Herrero and the Wesley Community Center, CITGO has worked since the giveaway’s inception in 2013 to give Corpus Christi students the tools they need to succeed in the classroom. This year, CITGO volunteers stuffed each backpack with a glue stick, a #2 pencil, colored pencils, an eraser, a notebook, notebook paper, a pocket folder, a ruler and scissors. Backpacks were distributed to any students who came to the giveaway, on a first-come, first-served basis.
“At CITGO, we are committed to helping students in our operational areas get the best education they can,” said Art Klein, vice president and general manager of the CITGO Corpus Christi Refinery. “Each year, the Abel Herrero School Supplies giveaway has benefitted more students than it did the previous year, and our CITGO volunteers are excited to be a part of this program’s continued growth.”
CITGO is committed to academic success and opportunity for students and teachers throughout the Corpus Christi area. This summer, CITGO brought teachers from the Corpus Christi community aboard Exploration Vessel Nautilus with the Ocean Exploration Trust to give them first-hand research and educational experiences to enhance their classroom lessons. Also, earlier this year, CITGO renewed its commitment to the CITGO Innovation Academy for Engineering, Environmental & Marine Science at Foy H. Moody High School in Corpus Christi, one of the highest-ranked schools in the country for STEM courses, giving students access to field trips, academic competitions and conferences and educational technology and supplies.
About CITGO Corpus Christi Refinery
The CITGO Corpus Christi Refinery, which celebrated 80 years of operations in 2015, provides more than 1,000 jobs locally, while generating more than $345 million per year in support of the local economy through salaries, services and taxes. In addition to producing high-quality fuels for its network of nearly 5,500 independently owned and operated CITGO branded stations across the country, Corpus Christi refinery employees make a major positive impact on the community. In 2015 alone, CITGO employees in Corpus Christi volunteered more than 2,900 hours of their personal time to local and national charities. Since 2013, the CITGO Corpus Christi Refinery and its employees have provided more than 10,000 volunteer hours and approximately $3.3 million in support of community organizations such as United Way, Charlie's Place, Muscular Dystrophy Association, The Miracle League, Catholic Charities, the Special Olympics and a variety of environmental and preservation initiatives, such as the revitalization of the Gateway to Corpus Christi, Hans and Pat Suter Park and Adopt-A-Beach Clean Up. The 80th anniversary of the Corpus Christi Refinery last year was preceded by the 70th anniversary of the CITGO Lake Charles Refinery in 2014 and is being followed by the 90th anniversary of the CITGO Lemont Refinery in 2016, with CITGO facilities marking three significant milestones in three consecutive years. For more information on the CITGO Corpus Christi Refinery, visit www.citgorefining.com/corpus-christi.
About CITGO
CITGO, based in Houston, is a refiner, transporter and marketer of transportation fuels, lubricants, petrochemicals and other industrial products. The company is owned by CITGO Holding, Inc., an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A., the national oil company of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. For more information, visit www.CITGO.com.