Each year, Lane picks the three locations that exemplify giving to and serving the communities in which they operate. We recognize that in addition to the regulatory licenses we hold there is a social license to operate that exists when our business and the community benefit from each other. In recognition, the top three plants will be given $5000, $3000, and $1000 respectively to donate to the charity of their choice. The results for 2008 are as follows:

Eighteen locations submitted packages for the awards consideration including one district office. Over 110 major activities were summarized in the packages.

The Gold winner was the Alexandria plant of Virginia Paving Company, a division of The Lane Construction Corporation. The 175 men and women at the Alexandria location made a difference for the community while also going about their daily jobs of helping to build and maintain some of the nation’s most traveled highways. Some of their unique community service activities were the Dump Trucks for Charity program and hosting a field trip for the Minnie Howard Middle School.

Dump trucks for Charity helped local charities by advertising their causes on the sides and backs of various Virginia Paving trucks. Charities such as Habitat for Humanity of Northern Virginia, the Animal Welfare League of Alexandria, and Rebuilding Together Alexandria participated.

The field trip exposed middle school students in the area to how asphalt mix is produced including how the process is a big recycling effort. 100 students learned how roads are made and how Virginia Paving Company’s Waste Reduction Program works to help the environment.

The Silver winner was Sunrise Materials, a division of The Lane Construction Corporation in Maine. Some examples of their community service are the Hampden Gazebo relocation project and the Orono/Old Town Firefighter training exercise.

Sunrise collaborated with the Bangor plant operations and Wardwell Contracting, a division of The Lane Construction Corporation, to excavate and grade a pad for the gazebo relocation, provide and place concrete for the new base, and physically move the gazebo to its new location.

The firefighter training exercise was one of the best examples of “shared value” from all the submissions. This exercise allowed local firefighters and rescue personnel to practice dealing with a potential real life hazard in our operations. A transit mixer drum was used to practice evacuation of an injured worker. The firefighters learned valuable experience in life saving skills, they have a better understanding of our operations and they are better trained to serve the community.

The Bronze winner was the Lakeland, Florida plant. They had the most activities of any location and were unique in that they used employee activities to raise the money they donated to charities. They were champions of several major causes including the American Cancer Society and the American Heart Association.

One effective fund raiser for Lakeland was their Car Washes for Cancer. They held several car washes to raise money for Cancer research and other causes including domestic violence prevention. These car washes are a great team building exercise and a good activity in the central Florida heat.

Lakeland also participated in the American Cancer Society Relay for Life, a team endurance effort to raise funds and awareness. Employees set up tents to allow participants to rest between shifts and food was prepared on-site to keep the team well nourished as they worked hard to raise funds for this great cause.

Some activities from other locations were:

The YMCA Camp Jordan entrance road rehabilitation. Wardwell Contracting and the Hancock plant worked together to rebuild the entrance road to a YMCA youth camp.

The Source-to-Sea Cleanup. Lane plant locations in Central Massachusetts and Cold River Materials, a division of The Lane Construction Corporation in New Hampshire, worked with the Connecticut River Watershed Council to help clean several sites along the Connecticut River. Lane and Cold River volunteers moved the debris to collecting areas where our equipment aided in loading and transporting the material to proper disposal sites.

The Hamilton Safety Center in Western Loudoun County, Virginia now has a helicopter pad thanks to Virginia Paving Company’s Loudoun plant. This pad will give the center a permanent, safe place to land a helicopter in times of emergency and could help save lives by allowing quicker accident victim transport to medical facilities.

The American Institute of Steel Construction Student Steel Bridge competition for the Northeast region was held at the University of Connecticut in Storrs on March 17, 2007. Teams from eleven engineering programs from across the region participated including one team from Canada. The top three teams advanced to the National competition to be held at Cal State - Northridge on May 25-26, 2007. The participants in finishing order were: Merrimack, MIT, UConn, Laval (Quebec), the University of Vermont, Northeastern, the University of Maine, Tufts, Wentworth, UMass – Amherst, and the University of New Hampshire. With Lane as one of the major event sponsors, this year’s regional was a successful and competitive event.

Recently, Lane Engineer, Sean Mason molded young minds as he participated in the national Great American Teach-In. Sean, a Job Engineer from the Lakeland, Florida office, provided a PowerPoint presentation to a class from Westwood Middle School in Lakeland. According to Sean, the students particularly enjoyed the pictures of Lane's projects in our nation's capitol, Washington, D.C. and of course they were thrilled by the work we have recently completed on several NASCAR race tracks across the country. After the presentation, the children asked lots of questions, with some being surprisingly good for 12 year olds which took up the rest of their class time. “I must say that I am very happy to have had the opportunity to participate in this type of event. I can honestly say that it has been quite some time since I have felt this rewarded.” said Mason.