During 2003, employees were encouraged to provide 70 hours of community service to commemorate TVA's 70th anniversary.

Community Service

Through a broad variety of service efforts, TVA and its employees reach out to their communities in hundreds of ways large and small. From volunteering at schools to raising funds for cancer research to supporting arts and culture festivals, the people of TVA demonstrate their commitment to their neighbors in the Valley.

photo of Habitat volunteer

Team TVA

In recognition of employees’ reputation for generosity, TVA began a “70 Hours of Service” initiative as part of the company’s 70th anniversary. During fiscal year 2003, employees were encouraged to provide 70 hours of community service as part of a formal employee volunteer program called Team TVA.

During 2003, TVA and Team TVA employee volunteers supported:

• Fund-raising walks benefiting the National Conference of Community and Justice, the American Heart Association, and the American Diabetes Association

• Read with Me program in Knox County, Tenn.

• Junior Achievement’s Groundhog Day Shadowing program

• National Day of Caring honoring victims of the September 11 tragedy

• National Public Lands Day at several TVA reservoirs

• Collection of items for women’s shelters (part of TVA’s Special Emphasis Program)

• Collection of goods for soldiers in Iraq

• Collection of items for various weather-related disaster victims.

Arts and culture

In 2003 TVA contributed more than $465,000 for support of the arts and culture in the Tennessee Valley to various organizations, including:

• Capitol Arts Alliance in Bowling Green, Ky.

• Union County Historical Society in Blairsville, Ga.

• Helen Keller Festival in Tuscumbia, Ala.

• National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tenn.

• Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga, Tenn.

• West Point Prairie Arts Festival in West Point, Miss.

In addition, TVA offered use of its facilities, printing services and technical expertise.

Programs at TVA facilities

Complimenting Team TVA, employees at TVA facilities often band together on their own to assist neighboring communities. Here are some recent examples:

• Employees at Watts Bar Nuclear Plant near Spring City, Tenn., bought groceries and medicines for needy families and a computer for an 8-year-old boy with spinal bifida, and provided $19,000 in cash, supplies and furniture for area schools.

• Through benefit golf tournaments, employees at Sequoyah Nuclear Plant in Soddy Daisy, Tenn., raised $32,000 for area schools and more than $32,000 for the plant’s Spirit Fund, which is used for general community assistance.

• Lagoon Creek Fossil Plant near Brownsville, Tenn., donated a truck to the Haywood County Fire Department for use as a first-response vehicle.

• Paradise Fossil Plant in Muhlenberg County, Ky., sponsored the American Cancer Society Relay for Life, which raised more than $100,000.

• Through their Spirit Fund, employees at Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant in Decatur, Ala., provided local families with more than $31,350 to help with unemployment, terminal illnesses, and other situations. They also provided the needy with Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners and baskets worth more than $12,500.

• Employees from Allen Fossil Plant and the Cordova Transmission Service Center in Memphis, Tenn., supported the annual March of Dimes Walk America, raising more than $2,300 in employee donations.

• Widows Creek Fossil Plant in Stevenson, Ala., is the sole sponsor for Jackson County, Ala.'s Exceptional Children's Olympics. The $6,000 raised by plant employees helped more than 235 children participate this year.

• Employees at Johnsonville Fossil Plant in Johnsonville, Tenn., constructed library bookshelves, judged student competitions, and provided financial assistance, transportation, and plant tours to Camden Elementary School.

Bicentennial Volunteers Inc.

TVA retirees provide more than 6,000 days of volunteer service to TVA through Bicentennial Volunteers, an organization begun in 1975 to help TVA celebrate the nation’s 200th birthday.

Through the National Emergency Assistance program, TVA retirees and former employees provide emergency recovery assistance to the Federal Emergency Management Agency following major natural disasters.

On a daily basis, many of TVA’s 22,000 retirees continue a longstanding tradition of helping improve quality of life in their communities. Here are some examples:

• TVA retirees have presented water safety programs to nearly 17,000 school children across the Valley.

• More than 300 Chattanooga, Tenn., area retirees volunteered to help the Hamilton County, Tenn., smallpox emergency vaccination program. About 450 volunteer hours have been donated to the program.

• Muscle Shoals, Ala., area retirees developed an educational program on the prevention of the West Nile virus infection and volunteered more than 535 hours of their time to present the program to more than 35 community organizations in northwest Alabama.

Combined Federal Campaign

TVA employees support local communities through the Combined Federal Campaign, an annual charitable drive to which TVA employees are among the most generous contributors in the nation. In 2003, TVA and its employees gave over $2,000,000 in cash donations, in addition to goods and services and hundreds of volunteer hours in various Valley communities.

The audience enjoys a performance of Shakespeare’s As You Like It on Market Square next to TVA headquarters in Knoxville. TVA supported the community event by providing promotional materials.

Shawnee Fossil Plant employees participate in the Relay for Life to raise funds for the American Cancer Society.

TVA volunteers prepare to serve dinner at the Ronald McDonald House in Chattanooga as part of TVA’s Combined Federal Campaign Day of Caring activities.

The TVA Police play a major role in Cop Camp, where children have positive interactions with police officers and learn gun and water safety as well as team-building.

TVA Watershed Team members aided efforts to restore water quality in Virginia's Guest River, which was plagued by bacterial contamination and sedimentation from past coal mining.

TVA retirees distribute seeds, plants, and fertilizer to low-income families in north Alabama. Local churches fund the garden program, which costs about $10 a recipient and saves families an estimated $450 in grocery costs.

TVA employee Sheila King of Sequoyah Nuclear Plant dresses as an elf to entertain Head Start children at a Christmas party.