Giving Back
Virginia: Where We Live, Work, and Volunteer
Each year VOGA member companies and their employees donate tens of millions of dollars and countless volunteer hours to Virginia charities. From assisting local schools in meeting the needs of extracurricular and sports programming to supporting area food pantries, supporting habitat restoration, or helping to create multi-use trail systems for both residents and tourists to enjoy, Virginia Oil and Gas Association member companies are generous in their community outreach endeavors.
Yellow Door Foundation
It was a chance conversation with a friend over dinner that led JoAnne and Jeff McTague, of Barboursville, Va., to begin exploring the idea of how to help the families of children being treated at the UVA Children’s Hospital who were traveling from out of the area for the services the hospital provides and who were also saddled with hotel bill costs to stay near the hospitalized child.
After a little more investigation, JoAnne, who is retired from American Express and who now works with her husband flipping houses, decided that starting the Yellow Door Foundation was the way to meet those needs. One of her first encounters as she researched and worked to develop the foundation was with a friend she had met at a dinner party -- Virginia Oil and Gas Association (VOGA) Board of Directors Secretary, Ann Marie Gathright, who also works with VOGA member Environmental Standards Inc.
The relationship forged along the way ultimately saw VOGA and its membership agree to donate the proceeds from a 50/50 raffle at its summer meeting and the VOGA member winner of that raffle – Debbie Orrison -- donated her winnings back to Yellow Door Foundation. Combined with some additional contributions made by VOGA members, the Yellow Door Foundation received a donation of more than $6,100 from the industry and its members following that meeting. READ MORE...