Marathon Petroleum Corporation believes strongly in investing in local communities to help make people’s lives better. Working with local nonprofit, Sharefest Community Development, Inc., Marathon recently completed a beautification project at Del Amo Elementary school in Carson. Over the course of the day, Marathon’s many volunteers completed 14 large scale mural walls. This project is just one of many Marathon has completed with Sharefest over the past several years. “Marathon is a longtime partner who truly wants to make our communities better places,” said Chad Mayer, Executive Director of Sharefest. “They take on huge projects that transform schools because they know how important it is for youth to feel valued. In fact, this is our second project with them this year and they’ve invested $63,000 into the Wilmington and Carson communities!”

Marathon recruited almost 100 volunteers and funded the Del Amo Elementary transformation project. Because they choose to work with Sharefest as the project manager, their investment goes far beyond this project and funds Sharefest’s essential work with local youth in Continuation High Schools. “Giving back to the local community and beautifying our schools like this makes the community more inviting,” shared Jay Imbery, Engineering Manager at Marathon. “It makes us feel like we are all one community, and a place where we are proud to live and work.”

Del Amo Elementary Principal Hanna Zeid shared the reason this project is so important to her. “This project means a lot to me because having a school that’s beautiful and makes students, staff, and parents want to come here is really important. We want to be a school where students are excited to come and learn.” Denis Kurt, Environment, Health and Safety Manager from Marathon shared many of Hanna’s sentiments saying, “We have almost 100 people here from Marathon. Our employees brought their spouses and family to paint these colorful murals. We hope the kids enjoy them and it enhances their learning experience.”

Sharefest believes nonprofits build a bridge between vulnerable communities and needed resources. Projects like the Del Amo Elementary beautification are an excellent example of bridging the gap. Chad Mayer shared this final thought, “Partners like Marathon are an essential part of how we can create lasting change in underserved communities. Marathon has proven time and again that they believe in investing in our communities. We look forward to many more projects with the Marathon in the years ahead.”

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About Sharefest: 

Sharefest exists to empower underserved youth to transform their futures and become leaders of collaborative community change. Sharefest programming helps keep Continuation High School students enrolled in school through graduation, achieve significant increases in their GPA and develop social skills that help them reach college or career goals. In the 2020-2021 alone Sharefest served 171 youth and watched 68 students achieve their goal of high school graduation.

About Marathon Petroleum Corporation and the Los Angeles Refinery: 

Marathon Petroleum Corporation (MPC) is a leading, integrated, downstream energy company headquartered in Findlay, Ohio. The company operates the nation’s largest refining system. MPC’s marketing system includes branded locations across the United States, including Marathon brand retail outlets. MPC also owns the general partner and majority limited partner interest in MPLX LP, a midstream company that owns and operates gathering, processing, and fractionation assets, as well as crude oil and light product transportation and logistics infrastructure. More information is available at www.marathonpetroleum.com.

MPC’s Los Angeles refinery is in Los Angeles County, near the Los Angeles Harbor. It manufactures cleaner-burning California Air Resources Board (CARB) gasoline and CARB diesel fuel, as well as conventional gasoline, distillates, petroleum coke, anode-grade coke, chemical-grade propylene, fuel-grade coke, heavy fuel oil and propane. The refinery ships products via its connections to several product distribution pipelines and terminals. Its Watson cogeneration plant produces 400 megawatts and is the largest cogeneration facility in California.