Dollar More in the Community

City of St. Louis Recognizes Dollar More
The Honorable Lewis E. Reed (St. Louis Alderman 6th Ward) adopted a resolution on July 15 to recognize Ameren Dollar More. Joining Alderman Reed are, from left, Ameren Supervisor Credit and Collections Molly Martin and Ameren Manager of Community Relations Otis Cowan.
Ameren Introduces Dollar More Truck and Cools Kids to Promote Energy Assistance Program!
Ameren on Aug. 11 introduced the first of three “Dollar More” forestry trucks at a special event for kids at the Mathews-Dickey Boys & Girls Club in St. Louis. The custom-painted trucks will be traveling throughout the metropolitan area to help promote Dollar More—the state’s largest private energy assistance fund! About 200 kids in Mathews-Dickey’s summer camp program were the first in St. Louis to see the truck—and enjoy a frosty Ted Drewes concrete and ice-cold water, courtesy of Ameren Dollar More! Ameren Senior Vice President-Missouri Energy Delivery Richard Mark and Manager of Community Relations Otie Cowan joined Mathews-Dickey President, CEO & Co-Founder Martin L. Mathews at this fun and refreshing event!
Ameren Senior Vice President-Missouri Energy Delivery Richard Mark shares a Ted Drewes concrete with some of the participants in the Mathews-Dickey’s summer camp program.					Have you seen this colorful truck in your neighborhood? It’s one of the “Dollar More” forestry trucks promoting Ameren’s Dollar More energy assistance program.
Ameren created the Mini Wish List Program to show Dollar More agencies that Ameren appreciates the service they provide its customers. Through the program, in spring 2004 Ameren invited several targeted energy assistance agencies in its service territories to submit a wish list of items, and related costs that would support the agencies’ daily energy assistance efforts. Ameren provided nearly $17,000 worth of good and services in 2004 and 2005. Wish list items included fax and copy paper, new printers, fax machines, copiers, answering machines, ink cartridges, telephone headsets, post-it notes, notepads and pens, or in-kind services like printing posters and brochures, among others.						Webster-Rockhilll Ministries’ Mike Bohannon with the laser printer his agency received from Ameren’s Mini Wish List program.
Ameren offered plastic collectible toy Ameren logo bucket trucks for sale to the public during the holiday season. Complete with an aerial lift, working head and tail lights and flashing caution beacons, each truck sold benefited Ameren’s energy assistance funds—Dollar More for AmerenUE, AmerenCIPS and AmerenCILCO customers, and Warm Neighbors for AmerenIP customers. Five dollars of every $28.90 truck purchased went to the funds, which are dedicated to helping families with energy assistance and conservation. Thousands of the trucks were sold, making valuable energy assistance funds available for needy families across Ameren’s Missouri and Illinois service territory. To promote the program, Ameren leaders and employees took the trucks to the road.
Ameren Senior Vice President Donna Martin presented U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Michael A. Bonner, 3rd Battalion, 24th Marines with 50 Ameren toy bucket trucks for the Marine Corps’ annual Toys for Tots campaign. The trucks were purchased with funds donated by Ameren employees.	Ameren Customer Service Advisors Gaye Suggett, left, and Lori Hoelscher, right, of AmerenUE’s Central Ozarks Division, presented one of the trucks to Marylyn DeFeo, executive director of Samaritan Center in Jefferson City, Mo. Samaritan Center is one of the organizations that distribute Dollar More funds to help needy families.						Ameren Community Relations Manager Otie Cowan gave the Honorable Charlie Dooley, St. Louis County Executive a truck.
Ameren President, Chairman and CEO Gary Rainwater welcomed more than 200 members of the National Fuel Fund Network (NFFN) to the organization’s annual conference as well as the attendees of the of the National Low Income Energy Consortium (NLIEC) to their 18th annual national conference. In his remarks, Rainwater thanked NFFN and NLIEC members for their support of the Low-Income Energy Assistance Program, or LIHEAP, calling the conference participants the “hearts and minds behind fuel funds.” Presenting at the NLIEC conference was then-Ameren Vice President, Governmental Policy and Consumer Affairs Richard Mark. Mr. Mark is now senior vice president of AmerenUE Energy Delivery.		Ameren President, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Gary Rainwater joins St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay and Federal Energy Regulatory Commission commissioner Nora Mead Brownell in welcoming NLIEC members to St. Louis.
Ameren President, Chairman and CEO Gary Rainwater, former Ameren Chairman and CEO Chuck Mueller, and then-Ameren Vice President Governmental Policy and Consumer Affairs Richard Mark joined Missouri Gov. Bob Holden, Missouri Public Service Commission Chairman Kelvin Simmons and St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay in launching Dollar More Clean Slate, a $3 million initiative to allow AmerenUE Missouri residential customers to eliminate past due bills. Clean Slate, a one-month program, allowed each participant who paid a small percentage of a delinquent AmerenUE amount to qualify for a Dollar More Clean Slate pledge that covered the rest of the outstanding balance. Data compiled by the United Way indicates the Clean Slate program assisted 5,700 households, or 16,700 individuals. The typical Clean Slate participant was 39 years old, unemployed and had a median income of $6,700. For comparison, the U.S. poverty level threshold for a family of four is $18,810.			Pictured at the Dollar More Clean Slate media briefing are, from left, Mark, Simmons, Mueller, Rainwater (standing), Gov. Holden and Slay.
Then-Ameren Vice President, Governmental Policy and Consumer Affairs Richard Mark visited with fourth and fifth graders at Peabody Elementary School in St. Louis during National Energy Help Week. The students were competing in a visual/performing arts and essay contest to call attention to the need for energy assistance.			AmerenUE Vice President Richard Mark visits with students at the Peabody Elementary School in St. Louis.