June 1, 2023

​Our FirstEnergy 2023 Harvest for Hunger campaign was a great success. We exceeded our 1.5 million meals goal by providing 2.1 million meals to help feed families in need throughout our service area.

“We couldn’t be more pleased with the outcome of this year’s campaign. Especially for the first year under our April timeframe. We could not have done this without the great support of FirstEnergy employees,” said Torey Tolson, consultant, Community Involvement, Ohio Region. “We all stepped up and answered the challenge to continue our support of the numerous foodbanks and pantries in our communities.”

In addition to surpassing our meals goal, we also exceeded our monetary goal of $214,286 by more than $80,800. This was achieved through our auction items, employee donations, funds from the Harvest for Hunger Step Challenge, Benevity user donations and the FirstEnergy Foundation’s matching gift support.

“As we genuinely miss the fun, in-person fundraising events that have marked our past annual Harvest for Hunger campaigns due to our remote work environment, it’s nice to see that a few employee groups found creative ways to raise money for this year’s campaign,” Torey said. “We truly appreciated the generosity of FirstEnergy employees to help feed the hungry in our communities.”

Employees at our Midtown Service Center CEI raised $500 during the corn hole tournament– $510 from a trivia contest and $800 from donations.

Toledo Edison employees worked the concession stand at two Toledo Mud Hens minor league baseball games to raise money for Harvest for Hunger. The group raised $1,080 to benefit Sunshine Communities Food Pantry.

Substation team volunteers, l.-r.: Brad Figiel, Substation Electrician leader; Justin Kleinhans, Substation electrician A; Russ Kegerize, Substation electrician A; Jay Thomas, Substation electrician A; Chad Weasel, Substation electrician leader; Trina Myers, Customer Account specialist V; Cory Gase, supervisor, Regional Operations Line & Sub, West; and Trey Hafner, Substation electrician leader.

More Mud Hens game volunteers, Front row, l.-r.; Christina Kolodziej, engineer IV; and Clare Carson, engineer III. Back row, l.-r.: Annette Carulli (friend of Trina) Nicole Messenger, Customer Operations Section representative; Trina Myers, Customer Account specialist V; and Andrea DeBagio, distribution technician II-Substation.

Toledo Edison employees also had a Harvest for Hunger Egg Your Yard event, where employees signed up to have their yards “egged” by the Harvest for Hunger committee the night before Easter. Employees were charged based on the number of eggs they wanted, and the proceeds benefitted our Harvest for Hunger campaign. In the photo are the son and niece of Kelsey Vincent, Estimating & Design representative senior: Cherish (l.) and Gavyn(r.).