Yankee Gas Employees Hold Toy and Food Drive for Needy Families Across Connecticut

Yankee Gas Services Company
P.O. Box 270
Hartford, CT 06141-0270
(800) 989-0900

www.yankeegas.com

News Release

Yankee Gas Employees Hold Toy and Food Drive for Needy Families Across Connecticut

MEDIA CONTACT:	Mary B. Ingarra
Office:	(860) 665-6212

BERLIN, Conn., December 19, 2002 (NYSE: NU) – This holiday season, Yankee Gas Services Company employees, in partnership with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), Locals 420 and 457, are collecting new toys and non-perishable food to benefit needy children and families across Connecticut.

Employees at Yankee Gas work centers across the state are collecting new toys for the annual Toys for Tots toy drive sponsored by the U.S. Marine Corps. The Marines give the toys to local social welfare agencies and churches to distribute to needy children. In addition to the toys, Yankee is making a $500 donation to Toys for Tots in the name of its employees.

The non-perishable food items collected are being donated to soup kitchens or food pantries within Yankee’s service territory. Each area work center is sponsoring a local soup kitchen or food pantry. In addition, Yankee will supplement the food donations with a $100 grocery store gift certificate for each soup kitchen.

“This year many families across Connecticut are struggling to make ends meet, much less buy the “extras” that make the holiday season so magical for children,” said Dennis E. Welch, president and chief operating officer of Yankee Gas. “We know we can make a difference in our local communities, where it is needed most.”

Beneficiaries of the Yankee Gas food drive include:
· Amazing Grace Food Bank, Middletown

· Windsor Locks Food Pantry, Windsor Locks

· Pawcatuck Neighborhood Center, Pawcatuck

· Friends of Assisi Food Pantry, Danielson

· The Spooner House, Derby

· Greater Waterbury Interfaith Ministries, Waterbury

· Dorothy Day Hospitality House, Danbury

· Torrington Area Council of Churches, Torrington

· St. Joseph's Food Pantry, Meriden

· St. Vincent DePaul Society of Meriden, Inc., Meriden

· Norwalk Emergency Shelter, South Norwalk

Yankee Energy System, Inc., (YES) which is part of the Northeast Utilities system, includes Yankee Gas Services Company, the largest natural gas distribution company in Connecticut serving approximately 191,000 customers in 70 cities and towns throughout the state. Yankee Energy also includes Yankee Energy Financial Services Company, which provides a full range of residential and commercial energy equipment financing options. Further information about YES can be obtained from its Web sites: www.yankeeenergy.com, www.yankeegas.com and www.yankeefinancialservices.com.

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