Dow Recognizes Employee Volunteers for 2005 Contributions

Louisiana - February 15, 2006

Every year Dow Louisiana Operations volunteers give their time to numerous community projects to improve the quality of life in the surrounding community.  In 2005, approximately 600 Dow and contract employee volunteers gave more than 20,000 hours to support more than 45 area community projects.

Louisiana Operations recently honored its employee volunteers at a special recognition breakfast for their contributions and support in 2005.

Dow Community Relations Manager Rebecca Bentley said, “Dow’s employee volunteers are the heart of our community outreach efforts. Our employees give their time, skills and talents to help meet individual and family needs here in our immediate communities. We want to recognize them for the enthusiastic way in which they are working to make a difference where we live and work.”

Among the activities in which Dow and contract employees gave of their time and talents in 2005:

• Blood Drives conducted in 2005 collected nearly 1,200 pints of blood & platelets from Dow employees, contract employees and retirees. As a result, the Ruth Gandour Memorial Blood Bank was again recognized as the most successful blood drive in the capital area by Our Lady of the Lake Blood Center.



• Science is pHun demonstrations at the Dow Conference Center and schools reached nearly 1,600 students



• More than 4,700 high school juniors in Iberville, WBR, Assumption & EBR parishes learned about what happens when their education meets the “real world” at Career Connections.



• Volunteers made Door-to-Door visits to approximately 1,700 neighbors living near Louisiana Operations and Grand Bayou Operations. In addition, Volunteer Baton Rouge recognized LAO’s door-to-door project as the most outstanding business volunteer project in the capital area community.



• The Toy Drive committee enjoyed their most successful year ever, providing 20 large barrels of toys and 30 bikes for needy children in Iberville and WBR parishes. In addition, the committee raised more than $6,300, which was used to purchase hundreds of additional toys. This project benefited approximately 1,400 students in the two-parish area.



• Dow volunteers partnered with community businesses and organizations to provide a “Back to School” program for approximately 900 students and parents in Assumption, Iberville and West Baton Rouge parishes.



• More than 100 United Way volunteers raised over $456,000 for Capital Area United Way in 2005. Dow also made a corporate gift to the campaign totaling $120,000 – bringing the LAO total contributions for United Way’s 2005 campaign to $576,400.

 

In addition, Dow employees and contract employees responded in meaningful ways to meet the unique needs of our communities resulting from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. This included providing meals, donating clothing and equipment for area shelters, flying medical supplies and staff to impacted areas and volunteering time at local shelters helping evacuated individuals, as well as pets.

	Dow recently honored its employee volunteers at a special recognition breakfast for their contributions and support in 2005. In 2005, approximately 600 Dow and contract employee volunteers gave more than 20,000 hours to support more than 45 area community projects.

For Editorial Information:

Gary Cambre
The Dow Chemical Company
(225) 353-8265