Volunteers with the Alabama Power Service Organization (APSO) in the company’s Southeast Division began spreading holiday cheer even before the season officially began with Thanksgiving turkey and dressing.

During the APSO Southeast Division Chapter board meeting, held Nov. 14 at Alabama Baptist Children’s Homes and Family Ministries in Dothan, volunteers decorated two Christmas trees, wrapped gifts and filled holiday bags that parents will give to their foster children. The bags were loaded with gift cards for meals and movies, packages of hot chocolate and popcorn, and craft activity kits that foster families can work on together.

“It was our way of giving back,” said Keitha Russaw, an Alabama Power community relations specialist in Southeast Division. “Our help gave them time to get ahead and do more in the community instead of having to focus on decorating and wrapping gifts.”

Russaw said the project was the start of a new partnership with the local Alabama Baptist Children’s Home, which is part of a statewide nonprofit that provides foster care and professional counseling for children.

“It was such a joy for Alabama Power Service Organization members to come in and decorate and wrap gifts for us,” said Kim McGainey, Southeast Area director of Alabama Baptist Children’s Homes and Family Ministries. “It was a great opportunity for us to get to know one another. We would love to develop a relationship with the Alabama Power Service Organization.”

Alabama Power Service Organization volunteers from Southeast Division at Alabama Baptist Children’s Home and Family Ministries. (contributed)

Members of APSO and the Energizers, Alabama Power’s retiree service organization, have been busy across the state this holiday season, helping people in need. Their efforts have included shopping for toys, bicycles and other gifts on children’s wish lists; collecting canned goods and nonperishables for food pantries; providing wipes and adult diapers for senior citizens; and contributing much-needed cash to area nonprofits. They’ve also brought fun into the season, taking part in Christmas parades, helping build floats, and decorating community Christmas trees.

“The work that the Energizers and APSO do is so critical, especially around the holidays,” said Kim Savage, APSO and Energizers coordinator at Alabama Power.

“Many of us feel a responsibility to give back, which seems to be greater around the holidays,” Savage added. “So many families struggle this time of year, but the service projects APSO and Energizers do around the holidays hopefully make things a little easier for those families who can’t seem to catch a break. APSO and Energizers are proud to help those in need and continue to elevate our communities.”

Here are some highlights of the many ways APSO and Energizers volunteers have brightened the lives of others during the holidays:

Alabama Power Service Organization

• Mobile APSO – Members shopped for gifts for 24 children through the Salvation Army Angel Tree program and 29 children from Wings of Life Recovery. They partnered with WKRG News 5 in Mobile and the Gulf Coast community for the annual Magical Christmas Toy Drive; APSO donated about 350 toys to children in need as part of this effort. Members also delivered gifts to the Child Advocacy Center of Mobile, the Wilmer Hall Children’s Home, and provided bicycles for needy boys and girls in Bayou La Batre.

Alabama Power volunteers in Mobile supported the Magical Christmas Toy Drive. (contributed)

• Plant Barry APSO – APSO volunteers from Plant Barry, located in Mobile County, purchased wish list items for 76 children from the Alabama Department of Human Resources (DHR) foster program and 11 children at the Alabama Baptist Children’s Home in Mobile. The volunteers were provided information about each child, including their interests, hobbies, sizes and most-wanted items. They then shopped for the children individually. The chapter’s E.R. Covington Golf Tournament, which brought in about $50,000 this year, provided funding for the project. Additionally, on Dec. 1, Barry APSO members volunteered at Feeding the Gulf Coast food bank, where they inspected and sorted nonperishable food items for distribution to people in need during the holiday season.

Alabama Power volunteers from Plant Barry take a momentary break from their work at Feeding the Gulf Coast food bank. (contributed)

• Magic City APSO – Volunteers with the Magic City APSO chapter in Birmingham participated in the Rebirth Community Corporation annual shopping experience benefiting underserved communities and ex-offenders. Members helped unbox, label and sort items for the event at Rebirth Christian Fellowship near Birmingham. During the holidays, this effort gives those who can’t afford gifts the opportunity to shop for Christmas presents and other household goods free of charge.

Volunteers with the APSO Magic City Chapter at Rebirth Christian Fellowship. (contributed)

• Plant Miller APSO – On the day of the chapter’s annual holiday shopping spree, 32 volunteers, including APSO members, company retirees, family and friends, purchased shoes, clothes, toys and other gifts for 200 children from the local DHR and through the Salvation Army. Members also sponsored and decorated a Christmas tree at West Jefferson City Hall, which benefited a local scholarship fund. And for the first time, they sponsored a tree in downtown Jasper, which helped raise funds for Hope for Women, a nonprofit that helps women and their families in recovery from substance abuse. Earnest Tubbs, a planner at Plant Miller, located in Jefferson County, and Tubbs’ family decorated the tree in Jasper, while Renell Barger, a Safety and Health specialist at Miller, with help from her mom and a team of friends, decorated the one at City Hall.

Alabama Power volunteers from Plant Miller shop for those less fortunate. (contributed)

• Plant Gaston APSO – Volunteers from the APSO Chapter at Plant Gaston, located in Shelby County, got into the spirit of the season by participating in Christmas parades in Vincent on Nov. 30 and Childersburg on Dec. 14. They decorated and rode atop their own Christmas Candyland float, accompanied by a walking inflatable gingerbread man. On Dec. 4, members turned out for their annual Christmas Wish shopping drive, purchasing gifts for 169 children from Shelby, Chilton and Talladega counties. Members also decorated a tree for Columbiana’s Christmas in the Park. The chapter includes employees at the National Carbon Capture Center in Shelby County and the Central Alabama Generating Facility in Billingsley.

Members of the APSO, Plant Gaston chapter, shop to make the holidays brighter for those in need. (contributed)

• Western Division APSO – The chapter, based in Tuscaloosa, sponsored and decorated a Christmas tree that was part of the Tuscaloosa Tinsel Trail, which benefits Tuscaloosa One Place, a family resource center. Members worked for four weeks with students from STARS Academy, one of the Alabama Power Tuscaloosa office’s two Adopt-A-Schools, to create ornaments for the tree. Located in downtown Tuscaloosa, the Tinsel Trail is made up of more than 200 decorated trees, each sponsored by a local business, organization or individual. The chapter also sponsored a Christmas tree in the Noel Trail, a new addition to the Christmas on the River festivities in Demopolis. The event benefits the Demopolis Area Chamber of Commerce. Additionally, APSO members gave gifts to Salvation Army angels and purchased bicycles for distribution by DHR in Marengo and Greene counties. Finally, APSO decorated live Christmas trees in Eutaw’s town square, took part in the Alabama Free Will Baptist Children’s Home toy drive, hosted a photo booth at the Northport Holiday Open House and volunteered as bell ringers for the Salvation Army kettle drive in Jasper.

APSO volunteers from Western Division help at the photo booth at Northport’s Holiday Open House. (contributed)

• Eastern Division APSO – Volunteers assembled 262 gift bags and stockings filled with personal care items and other essentials for residents of five nursing homes. Alabama Power employees across Eastern Division, headquartered in Anniston, donated items ranging from toothpaste, shampoo and body wash to coloring books, Crayons and colored pencils. The APSO volunteers then assembled the gift bags before distributing them to seniors.

Members of APSO’s Eastern Division chapter assemble gift bags for nursing home residents. (contributed)

Energizers

• Birmingham Division Energizers – The chapter’s officers and board members filled gift baskets for guest families at Red Mountain Grace, a nonprofit that provides housing for out-of-town patients and caregivers requiring extended stays while receiving medical treatment in Birmingham. The chapter also gave cash donations to Red Mountain Grace, Serving You Ministries, the Alabama National Cemetery’s Wreaths Across America project and the Forge Breast Cancer Survivor Center.
• Corporate Energizers – Members brought unwrapped toys to their December meeting for donation to Toys for Tots. Additionally, thanks to the chapter’s generosity, three charities – Cornerstone Schools of Alabama, Grace Klein Community and Greater Birmingham Ministries – each received $1,000 contributions.
• Southeast Division Energizers – On Dec. 7, around 45 members turned out for their annual Christmas luncheon. As part of the event, adult diapers and wipes were collected for SARCOA Area Agency on Aging in Dothan. Members also donated $500 each to nine area nonprofits: Boys and Girls Club of Ozark-Southeast Alabama, Boys and Girls Club of Lake Eufaula, the Preemie Project of Dothan, the Men’s Program of The Ark Dothan, Wiregrass Habitat for Humanity, Connections – Eufaula Respite Care Ministry, Vivian B. Adams School, Eufaula YouthBuild and Southeast Alabama Child Advocacy Center.

Energizers volunteers in the Southeast Division are supporting SARCOA Area Agency on Aging and other nonprofits this holiday season. (contributed)

To learn more about Energizers and the Alabama Power Service Organization, visit powerofgood.com and click on “Volunteers.”