Renewable energy company Drax has partnered with United Way of Northeast Louisiana (NELA) Young Leaders United group to sponsor a $1,000 refurbishment of Kiroli Park’s Born Learning Trail after it was damaged by recent storms.
The Born Learning Trail is an interactive walking trail to help parents, caregivers and communities
provide quality early learning opportunities for young children. The trail is filled with colorful signs to help children get active as they learn about plants, flowers, birds and trees.
Volunteers with Young Leaders United replaced four signs on the trail that had been damaged, cleaned the remaining signs, and painted different parts of the trail to make it more inviting to visitors to Kiroli Park in West Monroe, Louisiana.
Brittany Myers, Drax’s Deputy General Counsel North America and Young Leaders United board member, said:
“I’m very passionate about their mission because I can see the positive impact the organization has in my local community, especially around education and health for children and their families.”
Drax Intern Jaidyn Oliver, United Way NELA Resource Development Manager Allyson Sager and Drax Communications Officer Annmarie Sartor
Allyson Sager, United Way NELA Resource Development Manager, said:
“The Born Learning Trail at Kiroli Park offers an active and fun learning experience for children and families. I loved working on the trail and I’m looking forward to taking my kids there very soon.”
“Members of United Way of Northeast Louisiana’s Young Leaders UNITED were thrilled to partner with Drax Biomass to refresh the Born Learning Trail at Kiroli Park. We are excited for the opportunity to provide ways for children to be active outdoors, to engage with their caretakers, and to have fun while learning.
“Drax is an incredible partner to UWNELA, and this is just the of the many ways Drax has supported United Way’s efforts to help children succeed in school and in life. We are so grateful for the support and for the amazing volunteers who made this effort possible.”
Lucy Doll, Young Leaders United volunteer, said:
“The Born Learning Trail is such a great way to encourage children to get out into nature and the interactive signs give them a way to learn more about their environment. For me, being part of the refurbishment was so rewarding – it’s great to give children a fun, bright place to explore their surroundings.”
Young Leaders United aims to develop skills, knowledge and closer ties with United Way NELA so as to cultivate future volunteer leaders of the organization and its community partners.
Jamie Worley, Young Leaders United volunteer, said:
“When the Covid pandemic left me unemployed, I wanted to find a way to give back to the community and the Young Leaders United group has been a great way to do that.
“They give us volunteers a way to do something worthwhile and do things that matter. I was able to get out and give back to my community because of Drax and the United Way of Northeast Louisiana.”
Drax is committed to supporting the communities local to its operations and is this year drawing up plans for a more targeted community spend.
In 2021, Drax supported education and skills in Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas and Alabama and provided donations to help communities hit by natural disasters and Covid and work to support sustainable forestry.
In Louisiana, support included Hurricane Ida relief efforts, sponsoring an environmental education workshop for teachers and launching a Classroom of the Month program
ENDS
Photo caption: Volunteers decorating the trail
Media contacts:
Megan Hopgood
Communications Officer
E: [email protected]
T: 07936 350 175
Annmarie Sartor
Communications Officer
E: [email protected]
T: +1 318 801 0046
Editor’s Notes
- Through its operations in Louisiana and Mississippi, Drax supports more than 1,200 jobs and contributes $175m to the region’s economy.
- This includes more than 1,200 jobs in Louisiana and Mississippi with 300 direct jobs across these two states in Drax’s three pellet mills and at the port of Greater Baton Rouge.
- Drax’s pellet mills also support the wider supply chain of loggers, truckers, railway workers, port workers and other logistics professionals.
About Drax
Drax Group’s purpose is to enable a zero carbon, lower cost energy future and in 2019 announced a world-leading ambition to be carbon negative by 2030, using bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) technology.
Drax’s around 3,000 employees operate across three principal areas of activity – electricity generation, electricity sales to business customers and compressed wood pellet production and supply to third parties. For more information visit www.drax.com
Power generation:
Drax owns and operates a portfolio of renewable electricity generation assets in England and Scotland. The assets include the UK’s largest power station, based at Selby, North Yorkshire, which supplies five percent of the country’s electricity needs.
Having converted Drax Power Station to use sustainable biomass instead of coal it has become the UK’s biggest renewable power generator and the largest decarbonisation project in Europe. It is also where Drax is piloting the groundbreaking negative emissions technology BECCS within its CCUS (Carbon Capture Utilisation and Storage) Incubation Area.
Its pumped storage, hydro and energy from waste assets in Scotland include Cruachan Power Station – a flexible pumped storage facility within the hollowed-out mountain Ben Cruachan.
The Group also aims to build on its BECCS innovation at Drax Power Station with a target to deliver 4 million tonnes of negative CO2 emissions each year from new-build BECCS outside of the UK by 2030 and is currently developing models for North American and European markets.
Pellet production and supply:
The Group has 17 operational pellet plants and developments with nameplate production capacity of around 5 million tonnes a year.
Drax is targeting 8 million tonnes of production capacity by 2030, which will require the development of over 3 million tonnes of new biomass pellet production capacity. The pellets are produced using materials sourced from sustainably managed working forests and are supplied to third party customers in Europe and Asia for the generation of renewable power.
Drax’s pellet plants supply biomass used at its own power station in North Yorkshire, England to generate flexible, renewable power for the UK’s homes and businesses, and also to customers in Europe and Asia.
Customers:
Drax supplies renewable electricity to UK businesses, offering a range of energy-related services including energy optimisation, as well as electric vehicle strategy and management.
To find out more go to the website www.energy.drax.com
