Marathon Petroleum in Garyville donated backpacks to St. John students

08 21, 2013 by The Times-Picayune

Volunteers from Marathon Petroleum in Garyville donated school supplies to St. John parish schools, Garyville/Mt. Airy Math and Science Magnet, and East St. John Elementary, on Aug. 13. The supplies include bulk supplies of marble composition notebooks, paper and binders, as well as 180 backpacks filled with those school supplies listed on the St. John the Baptist Parish Public School web site for students in grades K-8.

Aspen Steib, Community Relations Coordinator for Marathon Petroleum, said the company’s backpack drive is one of many outreach efforts the company does to support its community and promote education.

“Education is the No. 1 priority of our community outreach efforts,” Steib said. “Our employees invest much of their time in the local schools. In addition to monetary awards, we are involved in mentoring programs and science demonstrations, because we want our local students to be skilled in math and science so they can have the best opportunity to succeed in their education and beyond.”

This is the sixth year Marathon Petroleum has donated backpacks filled with supplies to these schools, which are part of the company’s adopt-a-school program. They have also participated in school supply drives since 2002.

“Marathon continues to be a wonderful partner for our school district,” said Jennifer Boquet, communications specialist for St. John the Baptist Parish Public Schools. “We appreciate their donation of supplies and all that they do throughout the year to support our schools and our students.”

Marathon’s “adopted” schools in the St. John the Baptist Parish Public School District include GMMS, ESJE and East St. John High School. It has also adopted South Central Louisiana Technical College. Steib said Marathon Petroleum contributes $15,000 each year to each of its adopted schools, and it contributes $1,000 each year to each of the other public and private K-12 schools in St. John the Baptist Parish.

“We’re thrilled to partner with our local schools to encourage and help as many parish students as we can,” Steib said.

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