ConocoPhillips Honored for
‘Dedicated Service’ to Seniors

(HOUSTON, Texas) – ConocoPhillips may be known as a global energy company, but to seniors with memory loss living at Parkway Place, a Buckner retirement community, they’re simply known as friends.

That’s because they’ve been volunteering to throw monthly birthday parties to ensure residents of the Harbor, Parkway Place’s memory support unit, are celebrated and remembered.

“What started out as two hour parties are now three or four hours of sharing time between special friends,” said Parkway Place Activity Director Gwendolyn Mabray.

And on April 11, Buckner International will recognize their friendship and support as they honor ConocoPhillips with the R.C. Buckner Founder’s Award for Dedicated Service at the Adam’s Mark Hotel in Dallas.

“The love and care shown to our Harbor residents by the ConocoPhillips volunteers means the world to us,” said Executive Director Chuck Childress. “They make sure, with every visit, that those who are challenged by memory issues and forgetfulness are not themselves forgotten.”

Over time, ConocoPhillips monthly support expanded. Led by volunteers Wendy Calvin and Gail Harrison, the company began funding the parties. Harrison began spending personal time to create seasonal crafts – often personalized with the names of her Harbor friends – to each resident. And the group started holding special parties and providing music during the Christmas season.

In 2007, the relationship expanded further when Wendy successfully proposed to ConocoPhillips a corporate plan to provide $10,000 to refurbish the Harbor. The ConocoPhillips-funded construction was completed in December.

Other recipients of the 2008 R.C. Buckner Founder’s Award include First Baptist Church, Knoxville, Tenn., for Dedicated Church Service and Dennis and Ramonda Bingham, from Lubbock, Texas, as Philanthropists of the Year.