Team Rubicon Serves Flood Victims, Powered by NRG

This article was originally published by Elizabeth Killinger, a former NRG Energy employee, who served as advisor to the CEO. Prior to that role, she served as Executive Vice President of NRG & President of NRG Home & Reliant.

Today, I won’t be writing about NRG’s products but the central theme of this blog post is still power. The power of people - NRG’s people, Team Rubicon’s people, and the people of Houston and several surrounding towns and counties, who are working tirelessly to restore our community now that flood waters have receded. I am inspired by the power of service, the unity volunteerism brings to a community, and my heart truly goes out to those who have been impacted by last week’s flooding.

NRG isn’t just a business, we’re a neighbor in this community. Because we have the ability to lend a hand with the recovery efforts, we have a responsibility to take action. Our Power2Serve vehicle is a true labor of love, folks like us - from the Gulf in particular - have learned the hard way how to respond to disaster. We know what people need and we have the technical skills and equipment to help meet many of those needs. Power2Serve, with its solar panels, batteries and generators, supplies electricity where there is none, and its climate controlled pavilion, Wi-Fi and satellite service can assist the disaster recovery team by providing critical connectivity with a little bit of comfort. 

After an extended stay supporting flood recovery efforts in Deweyville, Texas, Power2Serve was stationed North of Houston in Tomball, Saturday, April 23rd, to support Team Rubicon in their disaster recovery mission, giving their team members power and connectivity that allows them to do what needs to be done to help this community begin the long process of recovery.

Team Rubicon is an amazing organization – uniting the skills and experiences of military veterans, with a hefty dose of compassion, to deploy emergency response teams where they’re needed across the country. Supporting Team Rubicon as they help our neighbors is the reason that Power2Serve is here – and we’re beyond glad to be able to support them, just as we have in a number of other communities. Sometimes local citizens need a way to get in touch with family, connect with the world and find some comfort. Other times, such as this deployment, first responders need a place to work from to support local residents. Power2Serve is uniquely capable of providing both when the local infrastructure is no longer able.

As a company with operations across the country and most of the U.S. coastline, we (unfortunately) know all too well the challenges of people recovering from natural disasters. That’s why we’re committed to working with federal, state and local disaster authorities to help in whatever way we can. Since being launched in 2013, the Power2Serve vehicle has responded to local disasters following tornadoes in Mississippi and Illinois, and flooding in Newton and Hays counties in Texas and now here in Harris County. 

We know the needs of the recovery go beyond infrastructure support, so in addition to feet on the street, we were one of the first companies to support the recent flooding relief efforts with Reliant’s donation of $100,000 to the American Red Cross. We place an incredible value on maintaining a strong connection to our neighbors, so we hope this approach to service – volunteerism, financial support and supporting the hands and feet of disaster relief efforts – will bring much needed comfort to victims of this most recent devastating flooding in Texas.