Operation Warm’s Impact in Tribal Communities Goes Beyond Numbers

Key Points

• Operation Warm and Marathon Petroleum are marking five years of collaborating to provide coats and shoes to children in underserved communities.
• Company grants have funded more than 60 distribution events that reached 26,500 children within the company’s operational footprint.
• Employees contributed more than 1,000 volunteer hours to help stage these events.

Operation Warm Senior Partnership Manager Michael Andrews is very familiar with the demand in many underserved communities for the nonprofit’s services of providing new coats and shoes to children.

“I’ve watched children in underserved communities come to school in the winter wearing flip-flops,” Andrews said as he reflected on 2025 marking the fifth year of Operation Warm’s work with Marathon Petroleum Corporation (MPC) and its midstream segment, MPLX.

In alignment with the company’s focus on Thriving Communities, Community Investment funding and employee volunteers make it possible to meet the needs of children in communities throughout areas where MPC and MPLX operate, including areas in and around tribal lands across the U.S.

“We haven’t been with MPC for five years for no reason. It’s the employees. They really do care about this outreach,” said Andrews. “The emotional impact is powerful. It goes beyond money to a human connection when volunteers interact with the children. That’s the big picture here.”

“The emotional impact is powerful. It goes beyond money to a human connection when volunteers interact with the children. That’s the big picture here.”

Over the five years, the support of MPC and MPLX has benefited about 26,500 children through grants that funded more than 60 distribution events across nearly 20 tribes within the company’s operational footprint. These events resulted in more than 1,000 employee volunteer hours. The company often augments the coats and shoes by also providing school supplies, food and health resources such as flu shots.

“We were able to impact many children and see their personalities come to life through the colors and styles they selected,” said Marathon Pipe Line Operations Superintendent Ross Simons, one of numerous employee volunteers. “We sometimes take for granted the clothing and shoes we wear every day, but seeing the smiles and happiness that these new items brought to the children was very special.”

The most recent distribution events occurred at the end of 2024 when employee volunteers fit hundreds of schoolchildren for coats and shoes in communities near tribal lands in Oklahoma, Oregon, Arizona and Idaho.

“Our attendance and academic scores have increased dramatically the past few years. We attribute this improvement to many factors, including Operation Warm events,” Fort Hall (Idaho) Elementary School Principal Debbie Steele said. “When students don't have to focus on meeting their basic needs, it opens the door for them to focus their efforts on learning and growing academically and socially.”