KALAMAZOO, MI (WKZO AM/FM) — Consumers Energy Enhanced Infrastructure Replacement Program (EIRP) employees are announcing the donation of more than 550 Thanksgiving dinners across three Michigan communities, including Kalamazoo.
The meals were donated in Kalamazoo, Sanford and Warren. According to a release from Consumers Energy, EIRP crews performed work in those three communities earlier this year to enhance the safety and reliability of the Consumers natural gas delivery system.
Officials say the projects involved digging and construction, sometimes in yards, streets or sidewalks. Those projects can cause brief hiccups for customers, and the Thanksgiving donation is meant to help say “thank you” to customers for their patience.
In Kalamazoo, those dinners were made available on Friday, November 20 at Progressive Deliverance Ministries Church of God in Christ, 1527 N. Edwards Street.
The grocery list for each dinner included:
- 12-pound turkey and an aluminum cooking pan
- Turkey gravy
- Stove Top Stuffing
- Idaho potatoes
- Canned green beans
- Dinner rolls and margarine
- Yellow onions
- Cranberry sauce
Employees donated over $15,000 to fund this year’s effort, and they also helped assemble and distribute dinners. All the funds raised to purchase ingredients for these dinners was raised entirely by the EIRP natural gas field employees who performed the work, along with union representatives.
Consumers Energy did not contribute any funds toward this effort.
This is the seventh consecutive year EIRP employees delivered Thanksgiving meals to different communities in its service territories. To learn more about the tradition, readers can watch this video from 2018.
