In early 2022, Drax employees volunteered to refurbish the youth baseball field. Volunteers laid fresh dirt on the field, as well as gravel around the dugouts and concession stands.
The aim of these measures is to create a fun and safe atmosphere for youth in Gloster, Woodville, Centreville, and Liberty, Mississippi, to be able to experience the outdoors through sports, and benefit from the important life lessons that are learnt through participating in team events.
Josh Bigner, Dixie Youth Baseball President, said: “Pine Hills Dixie Youth Baseball would like to thank Drax for their support of our local organization. With Drax providing our field with a new scoreboard, dirt for our infield, and gravel for the walking areas we can continue to provide a nice facility where the youth in our area can learn to play baseball, meet friends, and make memories that will last a lifetime. The support is very much needed, appreciated and will be felt by many generations to come.”
Brian Womack, Woodyard Manager at Drax’s Amite pellet plant in Gloster, said: “It is so great to see the completion of the work with the baseball field. The field has been here for over 50 years, and with support from volunteers and organizations like Drax, it will be available to our communities for many more years to come.
“The baseball field provides kids with the tools to develop social and community bonds along with the potential to learn to face and overcome challenges individually, and with their team-mates. I’m excited to see the enjoyment and unity that the field will bring to the players and these communities.”
Brian Womack grew up playing baseball on the Pine Hills Dixie Youth baseball field. He encouraged his own son to play, and he has coached many of the teams in the last 20 years. Brian’s oldest son, Colton, followed in his father’s footsteps by also playing on the Pine Hills field.
Colton Womack, former Copiah-Lincoln Community College baseball player
Colton Womack, former Copiah-Lincoln Community College baseball player, said: “The Pine Hills Dixie Youth baseball field had a major impact on me. I was taught to work hard and be humble from such a young age. I built friendships there that I still have today. Without the ballfield, I wouldn’t have the skills I developed from playing there, and I wouldn’t have gone on to play at the Copiah-Lincoln Community College.
“The field will continue to foster these skills in kids, teaching them to interact with others on their teams as well as promote communication skills. I loved playing on the Pine Hills Dixie Youth baseball field, and I hope that kids can continue to play and learn there.”
According to the Aspen Institute, children that remain active and participate in a sport are eight times more likely to remain active by the age of twenty-four. A sports activity helps children develop and improve cognitive skills, as well as improve mental health. Physical activity. Sports, in particular, can positively affect aspects of personal development among young people, such as self-esteem, goal setting, and leadership.
Drax is committed to supporting the communities local to its operations and is this year drawing up plans for a more targeted community spend.
In 2021, Drax supported education and skills in Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas and Alabama and provided donations to help communities hit by natural disasters and Covid and work to support sustainable forestry.
ENDS
Featured image caption: Brian Womack, Woodyard Manager at Drax’s Amite pellet plant
Media contacts:
Megan Hopgood
Communications Officer
E: [email protected]
T: 07936 350 175
Editor’s Notes
- Through its operations in Louisiana and Mississippi, Drax supports more than 1,200 jobs and contributes $175m to the region’s economy.
- This includes more than 1,200 jobs in Louisiana and Mississippi with 300 direct jobs across these two states in Drax’s three pellet mills and at the port of Greater Baton Rouge.
- Drax’s pellet mills also support the wider supply chain of loggers, truckers, railway workers, port workers and other logistics professionals.
About Drax
Drax Group’s purpose is to enable a zero carbon, lower cost energy future and in 2019 announced a world-leading ambition to be carbon negative by 2030, using bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) technology.
Drax’s around 3,000 employees operate across three principal areas of activity – electricity generation, electricity sales to business customers and compressed wood pellet production and supply to third parties. For more information visit www.drax.com
Power generation:
Drax owns and operates a portfolio of renewable electricity generation assets in England and Scotland. The assets include the UK’s largest power station, based at Selby, North Yorkshire, which supplies five percent of the country’s electricity needs.
Having converted Drax Power Station to use sustainable biomass instead of coal it has become the UK’s biggest renewable power generator and the largest decarbonisation project in Europe. It is also where Drax is piloting the groundbreaking negative emissions technology BECCS within its CCUS (Carbon Capture Utilisation and Storage) Incubation Area.
Its pumped storage, hydro and energy from waste assets in Scotland include Cruachan Power Station – a flexible pumped storage facility within the hollowed-out mountain Ben Cruachan.
The Group also aims to build on its BECCS innovation at Drax Power Station with a target to deliver 4 million tonnes of negative CO2 emissions each year from new-build BECCS outside of the UK by 2030 and is currently developing models for North American and European markets.
Pellet production and supply:
The Group has 18 operational pellet plants and developments with nameplate production capacity of around 5 million tonnes a year.
Drax is targeting 8 million tonnes of production capacity by 2030, which will require the development of over 3 million tonnes of new biomass pellet production capacity. The pellets are produced using materials sourced from sustainably managed working forests and are supplied to third party customers in Europe and Asia for the generation of renewable power.
Drax’s pellet plants supply biomass used at its own power station in North Yorkshire, England to generate flexible, renewable power for the UK’s homes and businesses, and also to customers in Europe and Asia.
Customers:
Drax supplies renewable electricity to UK businesses, offering a range of energy-related services including energy optimisation, as well as electric vehicle strategy and management.
To find out more go to the website www.energy.drax.com
