Alliance in the Community
Alliance believes that being active in the community is imperative to being a great company. Below are just some of the examples of the ways in which Alliance helps out local and international communities.Alliance has created and actively fosters close ties with the colleges and universities in the areas near our operations. We maintain long-standing relationships with many of the top Mining Engineering programs in the nation and are very proud of our internship program. Alliance recently provided funding for a new Mining Engineering Lab at the University of Kentucky. In addition, Alliance has committed to the establishment of the Alliance Coal Chair in Mining Engineering at the University of Kentucky, pledging $1.2 million dollars to assist the University in attracting, hiring, and retaining the best and brightest mining engineering professors. In November of 2010, the Mining Engineering Department announced that Dr. Thomas Novak would fill the newly established position.
We are also proud of our association with the Kentucky Community and Technical College System (KCTCS). Alliance and the KCTCS work together to train new and current employees. New employees are trained extensively so that they may enter the workplace capable of performing their job duties more safely and efficiently than typical novice miners. Current employees are eligible and encouraged to attend classes that will help them perform their jobs with an even higher level of confidence and skill.
After the recent earthquakes in Haiti, Alliance rushed to offer aid to those in need. Hoops for Haiti, a widely publicized event organized by University of Kentucky Men's Basketball Coach John Calipari and local television stations in Lexington, Kentucky, raised in excess of $1 million dollars for humanitarian aid to support the stricken Caribbean nation. Alliance employees, led by CEO Joe Craft, contributed nearly $200,000 of this total. At right, Coach Calipari, center, poses with (l-r): Charlie Wesley, Executive Vice President; Rose Thompson, Executive Secretary; Tom Wynne, Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer; and Mark Watson, Vice President - Technical Services.
On April 18, 2010, Dwight Kreiser, Vice President - Operations for Tunnel Ridge, LLC, was on hand at the dedication of a new baseball field for the Warwood Redbirds baseball organization in Wheeling, West Virginia. Tunnel Ridge, one of five platinum field sponsors, donated all of the light poles for the new field, allowing the youth in the Wheeling area to hold night games at the new field. The facility will used by the 9-to-12-year-old league. Click here for more information about the dedication of this new baseball park. At left, Kreiser speaks at the field's opening ceremony.(Photograph used with permission of The Intelligencer and Wheeling News-Register )
Alliance is also proud to have helped with the revitalization of the Dewey Lake area in Floyd and Johnson Counties, Kentucky. Employees from our Pontiki and MC Mining operations helped repave the area surrounding the dam that created Dewey Lake. Employees also assisted with the construction of a new playground in the recreation area near the Jenny Wiley State Resort Park.