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(LOUISVILLE, Ky.) – Trees add beauty to our surroundings, play a vital role in our ecosystem and help better manage Mother Nature’s impacts by providing summer shade, winter warmth and winter windbreaks. Now, about 1,500 more of them will blanket the Louisville Metro area thanks to community partnerships supporting Louisville Gas and Electric Company’s 15th annual Day of Caring event.

Day of Caring is part of LG&E and its sister utility, Kentucky Utilities Company’s, annual employee-giving campaign called Power of One, which brings together monetary giving and volunteer work.

In Louisville, more than 800 LG&E employee volunteers and their families and friends have been participating in tree planting efforts throughout the community, planting 6-inch dogwood seedlings. More than 50 of the LG&E volunteers are working with TreesLouisville, a nonprofit organization dedicated to increasing Louisville’s tree canopy deficit. Volunteers are helping the organization mulch and plant about 30 small trees around Farnsley Middle School on Lees Lane.

“The idea behind our Day of Caring and our overall Power of One campaign is that we have the ability to make a powerful impact when we join forces and combine our efforts toward a common goal,” said John Crockett, LG&E and KU executive vice president and general counsel, and co-chair of the 2019 Power of One campaign. “Our employees believe in making that impact through their contributions, but even more so through getting out and putting their tireless energy toward activities that benefit all of us and that’s what this work here today is about.”

In addition to the tree planting effort in Louisville, LG&E and KU also held a Day of Caring in Lexington in September. Employees and volunteers with KU joined the Fayette County Sheriff's Office and the Lexington Police Department for Operation Porch Light, which installed energy-efficient bulbs in porch lights to help increase safety and help customers save energy.

Last year, LG&E and KU’s Power of One Campaign raised more than $2 million thanks to voluntary contributions from employees and additional support from the LG&E and KU Foundation. Since 2005, the employee-driven campaign has raised nearly $24 million through payroll deductions, event fundraisers, retiree donations and support from IBEW Local 2100 and the LG&E and KU Foundation.

Nearly 70 percent of LG&E and KU employees participate in the campaign through recurrent payroll deductions.

Visit lge-ku.com to find out more about the company’s community outreach efforts.