PPL has been empowering economic vitality and quality of life for the communities it serves for a century.
In fact, community impact is where some of the company’s greatest contributions can be seen. Whether mentoring budding engineers, tutoring school children, cleaning up neighborhood parks or assisting veterans, PPL invests time and resources to help the communities it serves grow and thrive.
“At PPL, we understand our success as a company is closely tied to the growth, development and success of the towns and cities we serve. Commitment to communities is, and has always been, a priority for us,” said Joanne Raphael, executive vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary of PPL and vice chair of United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley Board of Directors. “Fortunately, most of our employees live in the communities we serve. Their commitment goes beyond providing electricity, they want to do the right thing for the communities where they live and work and help them flourish.”
PPL is well known as a leader in its communities, donating not only funds but countless hours to help those in need.
Through the decades PPL employees have volunteered thousands upon thousands of hours – coaching little league teams, serving as Scout leaders, delivering meals to seniors and serving at homeless shelters – just to name a few. In the past five years alone, PPL employees volunteered more than 100,000 hours to community service projects.
An important and meaningful partnership for PPL is the one shared with United Way. It’s a partnership believed to trace back to both partners’ roots, pre-dating the nonprofit’s current name, when it was called the Community Chest. Since 2009, PPL has contributed more than $30 million through employee and retiree donations, event fundraisers and support from the PPL Foundation.
Today, UWGLV focuses on improving the lives of people through education, food access, healthy aging and emergency services.
“In 2018, United Way celebrated our 100th anniversary. PPL has been right there with us through the years,” said David Lewis, president of UWGLV. “Without PPL, we wouldn’t be able to do what we do. In our area, there are 18,000 more people who are food secure because of PPL, 5% more kids are reading on grade level and thousands of seniors are safer at home. But it’s more than that. Importantly, PPL’s leadership is influencing other companies to get involved. There’s a ripple effect.”
In recognition of the long-standing partnership and PPL’s community engagement, UWGLV renamed its highest honor the PPL LIVE UNITED Award in October 2019. The newly named award, which will first be presented in April 2020, celebrates organizations in the Lehigh Valley that have significantly contributed toward improving the quality of life for those in need through giving, advocating and volunteering.
“Thank you to UWGLV for this honor. Our company is proud of the results we have been able to achieve working together. We look forward to 100 more years of partnership and to helping build sustainable communities,” said Raphael.
