Summer seems to last year ‘round in the South.

However, the end of summer is marked by many with familiar signs that tell us Fall is just around the corner; yellow buses back on the roads, Friday night cheers and families adjusting to new schedules and needs.

At Marathon Petroleum Company LP (Marathon) we never have a summer break, but we have our own end of summer routine and we’re just as excited as if it’s our first day back in school!

Back-to-School brings new opportunities for Marathon to support the local community.

On Saturday, Marathon served as the title sponsor of the annual Backpack Extravaganza.

In partnership with event organizer Blessed to Be a Blessing and the United Way of St. John Parish, this program continues to grow and Marathon provided 700 (K-12) students in St. John Parish with school supply kits for the new school year — a 25 percent increase this year.

This event wouldn’t have been possible without the support of Parish President Natalie Robottom, Sheriff Mike Tregre, District Attorney Bridget Dinvaut, Superintendent Kevin George and many other organizations throughout the parish.

We can always depend on our employees to lend a helping hand, and 30 volunteers showed up to help distribute the backpacks.

This is just the opening kick-off, Marathon is pleased to announce that through our Community Spending Program, we will again donate over $100,000 to St. John Parish schools in 2016.

This week marks the beginning of our annual United Way fundraising campaign.  Throughout the month of August, Marathon will sponsor activities at our refinery and in the community.

Our goal is to raise over $400,000 for the 27 agencies supported by the St. John United Way. On Aug. 18, we will host our annual United Way golf tournament at Riverlands Golf Course.

We anticipate this year’s event will be our most successful fundraising tournament ever.

Whether it’s supplying children with the proper educational tools to start the school year or being named the top fundraiser for the United Way for the third year in a row, we always do our best with our community outreach efforts.

We do this because it represents our corporate values, our brand, our culture and our future.

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