Besides contributing $27 million to the community through payroll and benefits, NRG Energy has invested $23 million toward equipment reducing nitrogen oxide emissions into the air by more than 50 percent. Similar to Exxon’s community involvement, NRG has also sponsored or contributed to the Hill-Memorial Center after-school program, Joliet Township High School and Joliet Junior Honors Program Scholarships. Once again, besides
powering the community of the present, NRG Energy seeks to empower the people of the future to ensure more of the same. Caterpillar in Joliet also works toward not only providing the equipment for international construction, but developing the community, as well. Caterpillar has been a part of the community since 1951. The organization recently won the Governor’s Award for pollution control as a result of it changing processes from chrome plating to another kind of process that saved a lot of waste water that was being put into the river. This initiative also saved a lot of solid waste that Caterpillar had from the cleaning process. Steps like those ensure Joliet’s environmental future. One of Caterpillar’s largest investments in the community comes in the form of investing in its employees specifically. Caterpillar even goes so far as to invest in the families of employees, as it regularly promotes hiring family members. In a time where corporations seem more intimidating every day, Caterpillar shows how it can offer a consistent space for employees and their families for years to come. Any community requires attention to its economic situation to thrive, and Joliet has clearly developed businesses that can weather temporary economic woes and thereby continue to help the community as a whole. Investing in energy that people will always need to power their homes and transportation, Exxon and NRG Energy supply the community with not only its basic needs, but also a refuge from concerns that other areas may not have adequately planned for yet. Caterpillar, too, has helped Joliet citizens to remain there with long-term employment opportunities for the entire family. No matter what obstacles Joliet may face in the near future, businesses like Exxon, NRG Energy and Caterpillar will assuredly continue to help Joliet press on. ◆
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