SHREVEPORT, LA – The AEP Foundation, at the recommendation of SWEPCO, is donating $100,000 to help local communities affected by the June 16 supercell storm that caused catastrophic damage across the Ark-La-Tex.
Four regional food banks will share the gift: Food Bank of Northwest Louisiana, East Texas Food Bank, Harvest Texarkana and Titus County Cares.
“We know our communities depend on us, and our crews worked tirelessly to rebuild our energy delivery system following this unannounced and unprecedented storm,” said Brett Mattison, SWEPCO President and COO. “We’re grateful to all our community partners for the important role they’ve played throughout this storm response and are hopeful this donation from the American Electric Power Foundation will offer help when its needed most.”
In addition to the monetary donation from the AEP Foundation, SWEPCO also donated four truckloads of food to the Food Bank of Northwest Louisiana, and another truckload to Longview Dream Center and Grace Creek Church in Longview, Texas after the week-long power restoration was complete.
“SWEPCO, along with the AEP Foundation, continues to strive to add value to the communities it serves and make a difference in areas of critical need,” said Brian Bond, SWEPCO Vice President, External Affairs. “Giving back to our communities is foundational to our vision of powering a brighter future.” In the last 5 years, SWEPCO has contributed more than $1million to support basic human needs. Of that amount, 59 grants totaling $515,000 was given to food-related projects.
SWEPCO and the AEP Foundation will continue to seek to find ways to improve lives through its giving strategies that include tackling education and our community’s most basic needs: food and housing. All four food banks serve the local communities as a hunger-relief organization, where they acquire, solicit, store, and distribute food and other essential items to low-income children and families. Through their established networks, these organizations help provide free and low-cost food and products.
About AEP Foundation The AEP Foundation provides a permanent, ongoing resource for charitable initiatives involving higher dollar values and multi-year commitments in the communities served by AEP and initiatives outside of AEP’s 11-state service area. The Foundation focuses on improving lives through education from early childhood through higher education in the areas of science, technology, engineering and mathematics, and by meeting basic needs for emergency shelter, affordable housing and the elimination of hunger. The AEP Foundation is based in Columbus, Ohio.
About Southwestern Electric Power Co. (SWEPCO) SWEPCO, an American Electric Power (Nasdaq: AEP) company, serves more than 551,144 customers in Northwest and Central Louisiana, Northeast Texas and the Texas Panhandle, and Western Arkansas. SWEPCO’s headquarters are in Shreveport, La. News releases and other information about SWEPCO can be found at SWEPCO.com. Connect with us at Facebook.com/SWEPCO, Twitter.com/SWEPCOnews, Instagram.com/swepco, Youtube.com/SWEPCOtv and LinkedIn.com/company/swepco.
About American Electric Power (AEP)
American Electric Power, based in Columbus, Ohio, is powering a cleaner, brighter energy future for its customers and communities. AEP’s approximately 16,700 employees operate and maintain the nation’s largest electricity transmission system and more than224,000 miles of distribution lines to safely deliver reliable and affordable power to 5.5 million regulated customers in 11 states. AEP also is one of the nation’s largest electricity producers with approximately 31,000 megawatts of diverse generating capacity, including more than 7,100 megawatts of renewable energy. The company’s plans include growing its renewable generation portfolio to approximately 50% of total capacity by 2030. AEP is on track to reach an 80% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions from 2005 levels by 2030 and has committed to achieving net zero by 2045. AEP is recognized consistently for its focus on sustainability, community engagement, diversity, equity and inclusion. AEP’s family of companies includes utilities AEP Ohio, AEP Texas, Appalachian Power (in Virginia and West Virginia), AEP Appalachian Power (in Tennessee), Indiana Michigan Power, Kentucky Power, Public Service Company of Oklahoma, and Southwestern Electric Power Company (in Arkansas, Louisiana, east Texas and the Texas Panhandle). AEP also owns AEP Energy, which provides innovative competitive energy solutions nationwide. For more information, visit aep.com.