More Than 260 Volunteer Hours and $55,000 of Cash and Materials Donated to Help Homeless Veterans Get Back on Their Feet

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) and the Volunteers of America, along with donations from local businesses, joined forces to renovate a service center/Internet café for homeless veterans located in a warehouse on the former Mather Air Force Base in the Sacramento suburb of Rancho Cordova.

The refurbished Veterans Service Center—which took six months, a $28,000 contribution from PG&E and its employees, $27,000 of donated materials and 265 volunteer hours to complete—was officially opened this morning (March 25) during an on-site ribbon-cutting ceremony.

The service center provides veterans in four counties with a warm, engaging and technologically state-of-the-art facility to meet their needs. The hub gives veterans access to high-speed Internet, online classes and training, the ability to set up email accounts, research employers, create resumes, apply for jobs online, research benefits and stay in touch with their peers.

“We welcomed the opportunity to further support the local communities within our service territory by participating in this worthwhile project. Many of the men and women who will benefit from this center risked their lives to serve their country, and we’re honored to give something back to them in appreciation for their bravery,” said PG&E Senior Vice President, Information Technology and Chief Information Officer Karen Austin.

The project was spearheaded by PG&E’s IT Department as part of its 2014 Campaign for the Community initiative and the utility’s Veterans Employee Resource Group. In addition to a company contribution of $16,000, PG&E employees donated $12,000 that was collected through fund-raising events and voluntary payroll deductions.

Campaign for the Community is PG&E’s annual employee and retiree giving effort to benefit local schools and nonprofit organizations in communities where PG&E employees live and work, primarily in Northern and Central California. Last year, PG&E employees and retirees pledged a record $7.3 million to Campaign for the Community.

The Veterans Service Center was upgraded to include:

• 12 desktop computers with flat screen monitors and webcams
• 12 workstations with chairs
• New printers
• Upgraded networking (wired and wireless)
• New conference room table and chairs
• Carpeting
• Painting
• Lighting
• A 60-inch flat screen television monitor

Companies that provided volunteers or materials to the Veterans Service Center project included Americana Construction, Best Buy, Cisco Systems, Diehl Interiors, Home Depot, Jamesville Furniture, Lighting Systems, Metropolitan Electrical Construction, Patcraft, Sherman-Loehr, World Wide Technology and Zones.

About PG&E

Pacific Gas and Electric Company, a subsidiary of PG&E Corporation (NYSE:PCG), is one of the largest combined natural gas and electric utilities in the United States. Based in San Francisco, with more than 20,000 employees, the company delivers some of the nation’s cleanest energy to nearly 16 million people in Northern and Central California. For more information, visit www.pge.com/ and www.pge.com/en/about/newsroom/index.page.

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Source: Pacific Gas and Electric Company