Chevron Phillips workers play Santa

By Doyle Barlow
Baytown Sun

Published December 16, 2005

BAYTOWN — For the third consecutive year, employees of Chevron Phillips’ Cedar Bayou plant in Baytown have teamed up with the Communities in Schools program to make the holiday season a little brighter for local youth.

Employees at the plant donated Christmas gifts for 66 children, ages newborn to 15, who otherwise might not have received any gifts this year. The gifts were on the children’s wish lists and ranged from clothing to bicycles, basketball goals and electronic games.

The children were selected by the Communities in Schools case managers. There are two case managers on site at Lee and Sterling high schools, as well as one at each of the Goose Creek junior highs. CIS also runs after-school programs at three elementary schools and three junior high schools.

“Our case managers work directly with students,” CIS Director Michael Wilson said. “There are a lot of needy students but they try to identify those who, with no assistance, would have a pretty bleak Christmas. We are grateful to Chevron Phillips for all their help.”

For their part, Chevron Phillips employees have enthusiastically embraced the annual project.

“This is almost entirely funded by employee donations. We just give them a place big enough to bring the gifts,” Cedar Bayou Plant manager Dan Coombs said. “At first, every employee will only take one wish so that everyone has a chance to participate. But a lot of them will come back and take more if any are left.”