CNX's Season of Giving: Meeting Our Communities Where They Need Us Most
This holiday season, CNX and its employees are embodying the company's core value of being a trusted community partner.
December 18, 2025
By Positive Energy Hub Staff
This year's CNX Impact—its season of giving—expands on CNX’s year-round commitment to hyper-local, direct support that makes a tangible difference in the lives of dozens of families across the region where CNX employees live and work.
Understanding True Community Need
The power of CNX's approach lies in its specificity and responsiveness. Rather than broad charitable campaigns, CNX prioritizes micro-TIL (tangible, impactful, local) investments that address the immediate, pressing needs of our neighbors. For example, when Armstrong County's Helping All Victims In Need (HAVIN), a domestic violence shelter, shared a critical request on social media in November, CNX responded promptly.
Recognizing the shelter's need for essential health and sanitation supplies, CNX mobilized to deliver hand sanitizer, tissues, paper towels, and disinfectant wipes to HAVIN's Kittanning facility. But the impact extends beyond supplies. Alongside donations, CNX employees have taken on personal commitments to support two families connected with the shelter—a mother with three children and another family of the same size—through the holiday season, ensuring they experience the warmth of community care during a vulnerable time.
Additionally, the Domestic Violence Support Service Program (DVSSP) in Washington County partnered with CNX to support one mother and six children with holiday gifts. Domestic violence affects far too many families across Appalachia, and CNX is standing beside survivors during a season when isolation and hardship can be magnified.
Micro-TIL Support at the Individual Level
While CNX's seasonal initiatives draw attention during the holidays, the company's commitment to hyper-local individual support operates year-round, including over the past several weeks. Through careful collaboration with local partners and case managers, CNX identifies and responds to urgent, specific needs facing its neighbors in crisis.
Consider a situation in Greensburg that CNX discovered in November. A working father faced homelessness while fighting to reunite with his daughters. Despite maintaining employment, he struggled with mounting rent debt, accumulating utility bills, and transportation challenges that threatened his ability to get to work. Recognizing the interconnected nature of his barriers to stability, CNX is coordinating a comprehensive support plan: assisting with food security, utility bills, and his rent arrears, while working with organizations to chart a pathway toward family reunification. This wasn't a one-time gift—it was a structured intervention designed to create lasting change.
Similarly, a mother of two young children recently faced displacement when unexpected circumstances left her without housing. With only 60 days to secure a new apartment, she faced an impossible choice: use her entire paycheck for a security deposit and first month's rent, or provide a Christmas for her children. CNX similarly stepped in with coordinated support: a down payment contribution to secure her housing, food assistance to address immediate food insecurity, and holiday support for her children. By addressing multiple, interconnected challenges simultaneously, CNX is helping provide a pathway toward stability.
These two interventions underscore the need for a micro-TIL approach: to meet people where they are, identify the specific obstacles between them and stability, and deploying resources strategically to break cycles of crisis.
Expanding Support Across the CNX Footprint
The scope of this year's season of giving demonstrates the interconnected nature of CNX's community presence. Across its operational footprint, CNX and its employees are channeling resources to organizations addressing homelessness, child poverty, and family crisis support.
In Virginia, CNX employees are keeping a cherished holiday tradition alive by participating in the "Adopt a Star" program, shown below.
This year, the team came together to shop, donate time, and contribute funds to adopt 24 "Christmas Kids," ensuring each child receives gifts and support for the holidays. It’s a tradition where the team consistently exceeds expectations, rallying together year after year to make the season brighter for local families.
In partnership with local organizations, CNX employees are ensuring that vulnerable youth have essentials as they navigate uncertain housing situations.
Outreached Arms received support just before Thanksgiving through backpack donations for children experiencing housing insecurity.
And more recently, shown below, students participating in this year’s Mentorship Academy program volunteered at Outreached Arms, assisting with meal preparation and service.
Armstrong Community Action serves families facing economic hardship across the county. CNX employees—alongside valued vendors like ROC and Pillar Innovation—adopted and provided gifts to 14 families representing 48 children this December.
On December 4th, CNX employees visited Washington City Mission for a day of hands-on support. Beyond providing holiday decorations, team members provided gifts to 147 individuals currently relying on the mission's services. This direct, in-person support recognizes that the holidays can highlight loneliness and hardship for our most vulnerable neighbors.
Complementing this effort, CNX is partnering with Westmoreland Community Action to adopt another 42 families, providing gifts to 113 children—demonstrating the multiplier effect when corporate commitment meets employee passion.
Washington Dams Cleanup Initiative
As part of CNX's commitment to environmental stewardship, CNX employees participated in a cleanup effort along the roadways of Washington Dams in North Franklin Township, Washington County, PA.
CNX volunteers collected 45 bags of garbage and 25 discarded tires, removing litter and waste that had accumulated throughout the area. The Washington Dams roadway cleanup shows how CNX's seasonal giving initiatives extend beyond traditional charitable donations to include active participation in beautification and conservation projects that enhance the quality of life for residents across southwestern Pennsylvania.
Providing Comfort for the Community
CNX recognizes that healing and wellness extend beyond medical treatment. On December 11th, the team returned to UPMC Hillman Shadyside to continue a cherished tradition: the "Caring Carts" distribution.
A cornerstone of the CNX Foundation's partnership with UPMC Hillman since 2016, these carts are stocked with personal items designed to bring comfort and a moment of joy to patients undergoing treatment. Alongside these personal donations, CNX made a financial contribution to further support the vital work of the medical heroes who serve our region every day.
The following day, December 12th, a volunteer team headed to UPMC Hillman IRMC to provide lunch for the nursing staff—a tangible "thank you" for the tireless 24/7 care they provide to our community members year-round.
The Philosophy Behind the Action
CNX's approach to giving reflects a deeper commitment: the belief that sustainable community strength comes from understanding and responding to hyperlocal needs. By partnering with established local organizations and empowering employees to give personally, CNX creates a multiplier effect that amplifies impact far beyond corporate donations alone.
CNX’s Season of Giving isn't a one-time campaign—it's a reflection of the company's 160-year presence in Appalachia and the relationships that run deep in the communities it serves.
This November and December, across Appalachia and through partnerships with organizations on the frontlines of community need, CNX is demonstrating what it means to put Appalachia First—not in slogan alone, but in action, presence, and genuine care for the families who call our region home.
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