Page 92 - South Mississippi Living - December, 2018

GIVING BACK positive impact BUILDING WARSHIPS
AND COMMUNITIES
Ingalls Day of Caring Helps Others
Since it began in 1938, Ingalls Shipyard in Pascagoula has had employees filling all sorts of needs
in the community. This year, approximately 100 shipbuilders spent the day helping others during the seventh annual Ingalls Day of Caring. The employees spread out across
areas of Jackson County to clean and repair various non-profit organizations that rely heavily on volunteers and private funding in their missions to help others. Organizations are chosen based on the scope of work that needs to be done and the volunteer talent available.
“The Inspiration for our Day of Caring was the company’s desire to make a broader positive impact in the local community by having employees volunteer their time,” said Dorothy Shaw, director of compliance, ethics
and community relations for Ingalls, who coordinates the event on behalf of Ingalls.
In Ocean Springs, Ingalls employees worked for hours at Sue’s House, which provides a home for women who are recovering from substance rehabilitation or have been released from incarceration, and oftentimes their children. At Sue’s House, workers power washed the buildings, worked in the yard and helped with landscaping. They also organized their storage building and built much- needed shelving.
Their skills were also used in Pascagoula at Adrienne’s House, a domestic violence shelter. Here, they worked to remove remnants of broken concrete blocks from a storage shed and helped cut away overgrown weeds. In addition, time was also
spent helping with different projects at the Jolly McCarty Boys and Girls Club in Gautier, painting the United Way of Jackson and George County building and assisting the Jackson County Animal Shelter.
“Employees from every department volunteer,” added Shaw. “You
will typically find a vice president volunteering at each of the project sites. There have been instances where 25 to 30 employees from one department took on a single project.”
According to Shaw, Ingalls takes its corporate citizenship very seriously and employees genuinely enjoy helping others. “Our Day of Caring is important because it says to everyone that we do more than build the world’s greatest warships — we also build communities,” she added.
92 SOUTH MISSISSIPPI Living • December 2018
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story by Alexis Williams photos courtesy of Ingalls