On behalf of Marathon Petroleum Company LP, I would like to wish everyone a safe and happy New Year. We hope you had a great 2015 and want your 2016 to be even better!

December was a month where we could truly share our blessings — as Marathon Petroleum partnered with St. John Parish President Natalie Robottom, the St. John Child Development Center and the Garyville/Mt. Airy Magnet Elementary School to bring Santa Claus, food and holiday cheer to over 600 students on Dec. 17.

These were first-time events for us but definitely won’t be the last.

My sincere appreciation and thanks to everyone who helped make these events possible, and in particular, to our acting community relations representative, Leroy St. Pierre, for his time and energy — and for his close connection to Santa Claus, himself, to help us pull this off.

We were thrilled to contribute to the season’s joy, and in particular, we were delighted to provide over 200 hardback “T’was the Night Before Christmas” books to students at the St. John Child Development Center.

We hope the books are impactful!

Marathon Petroleum was also honored to provide over 350 care packages to our military servicemen and servicewomen protecting our freedoms around the world. Of note, we directed our packages to troops based out of Louisiana.

Also in December, we partnered with Blessed Be a Blessing on a toy drive and were honored to provide a wonderful holiday lunch to our local seniors at the St. John Council on Aging on Dec. 18.

Looking ahead in 2016, our goal is to build on our community outreach successes of the past. We are very proud of our employees’ commitment to community, our contractors’ commitment to community, and our company’s commitment to community. Working in St. John Parish is an honor we intend to earn every day.

Lastly, we were extremely humbled to receive a Proclamation from Parish President Robottom and the St. John Parish Council for our efforts in the community thus far. On behalf of our employees and contractors, we would like to thank them for their partnership and support.

We greatly appreciate the opportunity to work in and for St. John Parish — and we look forward to continuing our mission!

As always, we remain grateful to L’OBSERVATEUR for this important communication opportunity. If you have any questions about our refinery’s operations or activity in the community, please contact us at 985-535-2241.

And once again, Happy New Year!

Jaime De La Cruz is a human resources manager for Marathon Petroleum. He can be reached at jjdelacruz@marathonpetroleum.com.