Apache announced multiyear strategic partnerships with three charitable organizations for which we will provide sponsorships and organize employee-focused volunteering events: the United Services Organization (USO), the McDonald Observatory at the University of Texas, and the Astros Foundation, the charitable arm of the Houston Astros Major League Baseball team. The Astros Foundation supports Houston-area communities through initiatives such as youth baseball and softball training, recreational activities, youth academic programs, and playing fields designed for children and adults with special needs.

During Military Appreciation Month, starting in May 2013, Apache employees hold collection drives for snacks, toiletries, and other goods to send to service members deployed overseas. In May 2019, as part of our new partnership with the USO, more than 70 Apache volunteers in our Houston office packed 3,500 toiletry care packages in support of the USO’s Force Behind the Forces campaign. In the Permian Region, employees have volunteered to “adopt” soldiers, purchasing care packages for individual service members with items such as snacks and toiletries. Each employee includes a note in each care package before it gets sent off to a deployed soldier. This year, the region held an event that had over 50 employees prepare 5,000 care packages.

Since its inception, Apache has been the title sponsor of the Mayor’s Wellness Weekend in Houston. The weekend features the Tour de Houston Bike Ride through the city that raises money for the Houston Parks and Recreation Department for restoration and tree planting projects.

Apache also supports the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Our five-year grant supports the hospital’s Moon Shots program, which is designed to accelerate the conversion of scientific discoveries into clinical advances and significantly reduce cancer mortality rates. It has improved surgical outcomes for ovarian cancer, expanded the potential impact of new drugs, and developed a novel family outreach program to head off cancers fueled by known genetic risk mutations.

Apache employees also raised and donated enough money to name a room after the company in the Houston Ronald McDonald House, which provides temporary residence for families of children hospitalized while undergoing medical treatment. Once a month, Apache employees provide and serve dinner to the children and families in residence.

In May of 2018, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department announced the closure of the Balmorhea State Park and its famous spring-fed swimming hole when a routine cleaning identified a serious structural failure. A desert oasis enjoyed by Texans across the state, it was built in the mid-1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps and is the world’s largest spring-fed swimming pool. In August 2018, Apache partnered with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation to create a $1 million challenge grant. Apache pledged to match all donations dollar-for-dollar up to $1 million in hopes that they could raise a total of $2 million to help repair the pool and quickly reopen it. Donations poured in, and by January 2019, more than $1 million had been raised. Apache later announced a second gift – an additional $1 million to establish an endowment to benefit Balmorhea State Park in perpetuity, bringing the total contribution to $2 million.

In 2018, Apache partnered with Truckers Against Trafficking to support a Human Trafficking Coalition Build in the Permian Basin to increase awareness on strategies that can help mitigate human and sex trafficking activities. In 2019, we sponsored the production of a first-of-its-kind training video, created by Truckers Against Trafficking, aimed at helping the oil and gas industry understand the realities of human trafficking and how the industry can work to combat these crimes. We proactively inform employees, contractors, and suppliers of the resources available that describe trafficking behaviors to watch for and provide the national human trafficking hotline number to report these behaviors, if observed. We held events for employees in each of our regional offices, San Antonio, Midland, Houston, and Pecos.