Global Care Day

Workers and their families from the Bayport and La Porte sites teamed up for two Global Care Day projects this past weekend. Created 15 years ago, the company initiative involves thousands of workers in 20 countries across six continents. The goal is to leave a long, sustainable impact in the communities where LyondellBasell operates.

More than 100 volunteers along with 20 members of the school staff tackled a long to do list Saturday, May 17th. Much of the work was focused on the Nature Center at Jenny Reid Elementary. The Center serves as a valuable resource by enhancing the curriculum in a variety of ways for the young students. But the campus was about to lose the Center.

“I would have to eventually close the Nature Center due to dangerous wood on planter boxes and an unstable roof on the outdoor classroom. The sprinkler system is A BIG deal as a few teachers and I have kept plants and trees alive the past 10 years by watering each week as we can get to it.” says School Counselor Marla Goodnight, “ LyondellBasell employees have so many more renovation skills than we as teachers do. If we did not have their help, the necessary repairs would simply not get done.”

A pond was filled in, landscaping replaced and trees trimmed on the school property. Another 40 volunteers were hard at work at Bay Area Turning Point. Workers replaced all the lumber holding in the playground mulch, brought in a brand new shed and sealed several of the wooden structures.

“It’s quite an impressive change, “ says Bayport Complex Site Manager Walter Pinto, “It does take an army of volunteers to get this much done in one day and I cannot think of two more deserving groups.