As Much Heart As Steel
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Mars B, like many major projects, it spans multiple years.
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We were active during the execution phase, in places like South Korea
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andGeoje Island—where we’re building the hull—
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in Corpus Christi, Ingleside area,
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and in Southeast Louisiana.
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It’s a long-term relationship with those communities.
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It’s important for us to integrate with the communities where we’re spending our time,
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where we’re bringing up our family.
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The Mars B Olympus Project social investment money
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is being spent in three areas where the project is being constructed.
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The employees in each local area are able to have a say
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on where that five million dollars is going.
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Each site team had a budget that they could manage
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in their local communities for activities that they felt passionate about.
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As a team, we decided where the money was going to go.
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We wanted to invest it in CASA in the rebuild of this building.
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CASA stands for Court Appointed Special Advocates.
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We get abused and neglected children
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within the foster care system out of that system.
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We’re only servicing 45% of the children in Corpus Christi, Texas.
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So we need to grow our volunteer base and we are already at capacity in our offices.
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The first time we came to this building to do a walkthrough
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to kind of figure out what we were going to do, it was a little overwhelming.
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But as we progressed we saw the results and it was so satisfying to walk away
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and see the amount of work we were able to do together as a team.
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Shell employees truly cared about this project.
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That was clear from the beginning and it’s clear now afterwards.
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They still come in and check on how we’re doing and how we’re progressing.
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You just don’t find that in a corporate partner nowadays, that’s very rare.
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We picked an orphanage.
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The first thing they needed was the van,
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because their van was 17 years old and it was not safe for the children.
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We spent money to purchase the library and to do renovation,
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but also we ourselves came in and then we painted all the rooms.
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We also have the birthday parties every other month with different themes.
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When we first started, there were only a few children.
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They were thinking probably we came here first and then do not come back,
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just like some other people.
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But they saw that we continued to come and now more and more children joined.
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It’s not just that we give money;
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we spend a lot of time with the children.
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We look at them in the same way that you look at your own children.
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As expatriates living overseas,
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an opportunity like this is just something you feel good about.
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Warms you all the way through, and it’s such a place of love and happiness.
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We love it.
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We live for it.
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It’s good stuff.
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Shell’s a very supportive company.
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If we’re willing to spend some time, they’re willing to support us financially.
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Shell has always been willing to go the extra mile
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to make sure that we leave a place better than when we got there.
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The Bayou Country Children’s Museum was actually a vision
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that started over 15 years ago from some parents that wanted to make sure
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that there was something in this area representative of our culture
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for the children to come in and learn through play
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and to preserve and promote our beautiful Cajun culture.
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We have been raising money over the past 15 years,
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and because of a $1 million gift that Shell Oil made
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to the Bayou Country Childrens’ Museum,
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we are able to welcome all of our visitors,
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our families, our educators from the Bayou Region and beyond.
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Right behind me is an oil rig that we have –
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it’s a two-story oil rig.
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We can’t survive in this area without the offshore industry.
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There’s a ripple effect from it from the Gulf all the way to our front door.
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Shell, wrap your arms around your shoulders tight, tight, tight.
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I just did this with about 75 five-year-olds from Paulina Elementary.
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A big, big thank you from the Bayou Country Childrens’ Museum to Shell.
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Thank you so much.
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It is tremendous to be involved with the community
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in various programs - from playing baseball
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to helping to clean up the bayou,
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from volunteering at an orphanage.
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You really feel a part of that community.
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Shell does this simply because it’s the right thing to do.
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And doing the right thing for the right reason is all the reason you need.