Generosity of spirit. It is a core value that guides our community involvement at AGL Resources, as we strive to support and encourage individual and corporate efforts to give back to the communities we live in and serve. Financial contributions are nice, but we also believe that giving our time and effort truly reflects the spirit of the gift. Below is a summary of some recent employee activities in the communities that we call home.

From New Jersey to Georgia, from Tennessee to Texas, AGL Resources employees volunteered on Earth Day in 2011 to commit "acts of green." Twelve activities were organized across the company. Here is a summary:

• Atlanta Gas Light: Nearly 50 volunteers cleaned mounds of trash – including parts of a car abandoned decades ago – and debris from a segment of the Atlanta Beltline adopted by Atlanta Gas Light and AGL Resources. The Beltline is being built on former railroad right-of-way that rings Atlanta. As Chairman of the Beltline Partnership, AGL Resources' CEO John W. Somerhalder II is helping raise money for construction of this transformational green space.
• Chattanooga Gas: Employees from Chattanooga Gas volunteered to clean up trash along Olan Mills Drive in Chattanooga. The company also held its annual Earth Day recycling drive. Bins were set up at the office, and employees brought paper, cardboard, aluminum cans, plastic soft drink bottles and detergent bottles from home for recycling. These items were delivered to a recycling program at the Orange Grove Center, a private non-profit organization serving adults and children with developmental disabilities.
• Elizabethtown Gas: Employees participated in a variety of activities to support Earth Day, including a tree planting the Hunterdon Land Trust Quakertown Preserve and a clean-up in the City of Elizabeth.
• Sequent Energy Management: Volunteers visited Boys & Girls Harbor, a home for children who are victims of abuse, neglect or abandonment to teach them about Earth Day. Employees showed the kids how to plant and care for a Laurel Oak tree, which will be a living reminder of Earth Day.

Atlanta Gas Light was recognized for its longtime commitment to education at the Corporate Volunteer Council's 14th Annual Impact Awards. Atlanta Gas Light was selected as the recipient of the 2011 Business to Non-Profit Partnership Award for its involvement with Junior Achievement at the elementary and high school levels.

Through its relationship with Junior Achievement, Atlanta Gas Light employees taught students at Parkside Elementary School about the nation's free enterprise system. Proceeds were donated to community charities selected by the students. In 2010, Atlanta Gas Light employees contributed 600 volunteer hours at the elementary school level and 530 hours at the high school level.

Atlanta Gas Light first took the Junior Achievement program to Parkside Elementary School in 2007. Since then, a total of 258 employee volunteers have taught 2,745 students in the first through fifth grades, achieving the company goal of providing the program to every classroom and every student at Parkside.

On April 27, 2011, powerful tornados ripped through Chattanooga causing millions of dollars' damage to homes and businesses. In response, Chattanooga Gas partnered with the Tennessee Aquarium, WRCB Channel 3 Eyewitness News and radio station US101 to raise money for tornado relief efforts on behalf of the Chattanooga Area Red Cross.

"Coming Together After the Storm," a one-hour telethon, raised more than $30,000 for Red Cross relief efforts. The telethon featured country music artists Jacob Lyda and Mallary Hope. Phones were staffed by Red Cross Youth volunteers.

Due to the severity of the storm and its far-reaching impact, timely support was critical to assist those in the greatest need. Through the telethon and other activities, such as local clean-up efforts, Chattanooga Gas was able to support its community and help ease the burden of rebuilding for its customers.

As part of the fundraiser, Chattanooga Gas donated its use of the Aquarium's River Gorge Explorer for a special cruise for the first 30 people to donate $500 or more. Chattanooga Gas currently sponsors the Aquarium's Go Green conservation initiative.

As the 2011 school year began, Nicor Gas launched the sixth year of its Adventures in Reading with Nicor program, a unique plan designed to foster a lifelong love of reading among children in K-third grade.

To implement the Adventures in Reading with Nicor program, Nicor Gas partnered with three schools in its service territory to support local Reading Is Fundamental programs. Employee volunteers organized and conducted book distributions, school assemblies, and parent and teacher training. Nicor's own superhero, Super Reader, also made appearances to motivate the children to read.

In the first five years of the program, students from participating schools in Cicero, Country Club Hills and Aurora have read more than 200,000 books.

In April 2011, more than 450 walkers from Nicor participated in March of Dimes' March for Babies walk in Naperville to help save babies born prematurely who are in need of help getting started in life.

From employee donations and company matching funds, more than $104,000 was raised, placing the company fourth in the state of Illinois for overall contributions. As a result, Nicor received the Marquis Award from the March of Dimes, which recognizes companies for outstanding contributions.

In July 2011, Sequent Energy Management hosted a night of fun and games for 60 children and house parents from the Boys & Girls Harbor at Main Event Entertainment south of Houston. The Boys & Girls Harbor, located near La Porte, Texas, helps hundreds of children ages 5 to 18 who are victims of abuse, poverty, neglect and abandonment. The Harbor takes these children from abuse to achievement, giving them a stable, homelike environment filled with hope, warmth and love.

At Main Event, the kids bowled, ate pizza and played laser tag, miniature golf and arcade games with Sequent employees. Sequent began financially supporting the Harbor in 2010, and employees generously donated gifts during the December holiday season for the children of one Harbor cottage.

Virginia Natural Gas employees took a dip in the frigid Atlantic Ocean in support of the 19th Annual Special Olympics Polar Plunge. Through donations, VNG employees contributed $19,000 towards the final goal of $1 million, which will directly fund future Special Olympics of Virginia events.

VNG volunteers also donated a great deal of their time as they spent hours setting up bleachers on the beach, erecting the Team VNG Tent and also making sure that all 3,200 participants were safe during the plunge. Held the first weekend of February, this Virginia Beach event includes a Friday Night Beach Bash, a 5K run on Saturday morning, an awards banquet and, of course, a "plunge" into the Atlantic Ocean.