CSX recognized by Department of Defense, kicks off community service effort

CSX Corporation has been awarded the 2011 Secretary of Defense Employer Support Freedom Award. The award, given by the Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR) agency, is the Department of Defense's highest recognition for companies that provide exceptional support for employees serving the Guard and Reserves. In addition to being the only Class 1 railroad to receive the award this year, CSX is the only company to ever win the award twice, having first received it in 1998. As one of 15 award recipients, CSX stood out from the more than 4,000 nominees as an employer that actively supports employees who serve both the Guard and Reserves. "We are proud to be a major employer of America's servicemen and women, whose superior training, experience in logistics and ability to work safely in demanding, team-based environments makes them uniquely qualified for railroading. We thank the members of our Guard and Reserves for volunteering to protect our country and its citizens, and as their employer, we remain committed to supporting them," said Michael J. Ward, chairman, president and chief executive officer, CSX. In other news, CSX is kicking off an eight-month-long community service project, entitled Beyond Our Rails: Project Sanctuary (www.beyondourrails.org) that infuses five days of management training between now and Feb. 2012 with the company's core value of giving back to the communities where its employees live and work. Through painting, mending fences, replacing windows and building new gardens and a compost bin, CSX has committed to revitalizing The Sanctuary on Eighth Street in Jacksonville, Fla., a learning haven for children in one of the city's toughest neighborhoods, all while instilling a greater sense of community connectedness in its next generation of leaders from around the country. Beginning June 4, groups of newly hired or promoted CSX managers will team with CSX's existing management ranks at The Sanctuary on Eighth Street to renovate the early 1900's era building and surrounding grounds. There will be 500 CSX employees working an estimated 1,200 service hours during the project and, for every hour volunteered, the CSX Foundation will direct $10 to a charitable organization of each employee's choice through its Dollars for Doers program.