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BP America donates meat to food pantries
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
BP America, which has about 80 people working in Trumbull County laying the groundwork for gas and oil drilling starting in April, donated 600 pounds of meat Thursday to two Warren food kitchens.
“Once we come into a community or plan to come into a community, we try to be a good neighbor,” said Curtis Thomas, BP’s director of government and public affairs for Ohio.
Thomas dropped off 300 pounds of beef and pork at the Salvation Army location on Franklin Street Southeast in the morning and another 300 pounds to the St. Vincent De Paul Society location on Niles Road Southeast.
The meat came from three animals that BP purchased during the livestock auction at the Trumbull County Fair this summer.
Diana Marchese, a Johnston Township resident and Trumbull County recorder, said BP’s involvement helped push the livestock auction to record levels this year.
“It’s a win-win,” Marchese said at the Salvation Army donation. BP’s involvement helped raise prices at the auction and provided food for the needy, she said.
In a press relase, BP said the cost to provide the meat was over $5,000. It estimated the meat would provide 2,500 servings. At the Salvation Army’s request, the meat was provided mostly as stew meat and hamburger.
BP became the leading energy company operating in Trumbull County in March, when it purchased mineral rights for 84,000 acres of land through the organization Landowners of the Ohio Valley, which represented 1,900 property owners.
BP has only two full-time employees working in Trumbull County but about 80 other contracted workers are in the county doing “advance work,” such as researching property deeds, Martin said.
The company will know a lot more about the oil and gas in the Utica Shale in Trumbull County after exploratory wells are drilled in April, but “We think it has great potential,” Thomas said.
If information gained from the exploratory wells is encouraging, BP might look to acquire additional acreage, he said.
“We are definitely blessed to be receiving some beef. The need is evident,” said Capt. Charles Coffelt, commander of the Warren Salvation Army with his wife, Misty.
The Salvation Army serves hot meals in Warren on the last five business days of each month, feeding 120 people per day. More than 200 families receive food from the Salvation Army’s pantry as well, Misty Coffelt said.
BP donates in all of the communities where it works, Thomas said.
“As we gear up, we will be making larger donations to school sand other nonprofits and service organizations in the area,” Thomas said.
St. Vincent de Paul feeds about 120 people during once-monthly meals provided by volunteers from 22 Catholic parishes and Protestant churches, the press release says.