The FirstEnergy Foundation has announced its largest hunger-relief initiative to date, awarding $620,000 in grants to 32 food banks and pantries across West Virginia, Maryland, and Virginia. This funding is part of a broader $2.5 million effort supporting over 100 hunger relief organizations in New Jersey, Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Virginia. The grants will provide approximately 1.9 million meals to communities served by Mon Power and Potomac Edison, subsidiaries of FirstEnergy Corp., and will also support food assistance in Virginia counties where Potomac Edison operates.
Food insecurity remains a pressing issue across the United States, with over two million people in West Virginia, Maryland, and Virginia affected by rising prices, climate-related disruptions, and supply chain challenges. Jim Myers, FirstEnergy’s President for West Virginia and Maryland, highlighted the importance of addressing hunger, emphasizing the Foundation’s commitment to strengthening local hunger relief resources and delivering nutritious meals to those in need.
The grant recipients include a wide range of local organizations and food banks, such as the Mountaineer Food Bank, United Way affiliates, the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank, and numerous county-based charitable groups. These organizations will use the funding to support community members experiencing food insecurity, ensuring access to essential nutrition across multiple counties in the three states.
In addition to financial support, FirstEnergy encourages employees to engage in volunteer work through dedicated volunteer time-off hours. In 2024, employees contributed over 26,000 hours to community service, including hands-on support for local food banks and pantries. This long-standing commitment complements the Foundation’s financial contributions and reflects the company’s broader mission to support communities in need.
The FirstEnergy Foundation and its employees have a history of addressing hunger and food insecurity, raising nearly $7 million over 23 years through initiatives like the annual Harvest for Hunger campaign. Since 2021, employees have donated $650,000 directly to hunger-focused organizations, and the Foundation contributed nearly $800,000 to similar initiatives in the previous year. Combined with the current Hunger Action Month grants, FirstEnergy has distributed over $4 million in community support across its service areas in 2025 alone.
Mon Power serves approximately 395,000 customers in 34 West Virginia counties, while Potomac Edison serves 285,000 customers in seven Maryland counties and 155,000 in West Virginia’s Eastern Panhandle. FirstEnergy Corp. operates one of the nation’s largest investor-owned electric systems, delivering electricity to over six million customers across Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, West Virginia, Maryland, and New York, with transmission subsidiaries maintaining around 24,000 miles of lines connecting the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic regions.
