The importance of community loudly resonated when the recent storm spawning tornadoes struck our area.

As the new Human Resources Manager for Marathon Petroleum’s Garyville Refinery, I was not only impressed with the way our employees came together to help those in need but also with community leaders and businesses all banding together to help one another.

Upon learning the magnitude of the devastation, we reached out to local leaders and asked how we could help.

Within a few hours, we provided over 6,000 bottles of water, tarps, distributed meals to local residents and loaned out small all-terrain vehicles to help residents retrieve items from homes on roads made impassible by vehicles. Even with all of this, we knew there was more we could do.

Thus we immediately reached out to our corporate office requesting special funds to help the affected area.

We are proud to say our CEO has allocated $85,000 for distribution to non-profits and local government offices in St. John and St. James Parishes to help alleviate the financial strain on local families, law enforcement and government entities.

It’s been a privilege to help here over the last few weeks, and I look forward to working with you all in the near future.

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to serve, and thanks to the L’Observateur for publishing this column.

Lastly, I’d like to welcome back our community relations representative Aspen Steib Murphy from a temporary assignment at our corporate headquarters.

If you have any questions regarding our refinery’s operations or community outreach events, please contact us at 985-535-2241.

Keith Hightower is the Human Resources Manager for Marathon Petroleum’s Garyville Refinery. He can be reached at thightower@marathonpetroleum.com.