Community Information

Marathon Petroleum is committed to supporting the community surrounding our Detroit refinery, specifically the people living in the 48217 zip code. From June to October, the refinery hosted the Fueling Detroit Event Series, four community events that included a family movie night, the Southwest Detroit Farmers Market, Back to School Blitz, and the Health and Harvest Fair. The events were held at the Kemeny Recreation Center and nearly 250 guests attended each one.  

In October, organizations offered free immunizations for children, health screenings for adults, information about mental health services and overdose prevention.  Attendees were able to join free workout classes held during the event. The Detroit Police Athletic League (PAL) hosted mini tutorials for soccer, cheerleading and drone programming.  

“This unique event series brings the community together in multiple ways. It’s supporting local businesses, providing family resources, health services, and education materials. And it’s a lot of fun to get together with our neighbors,” said BreAnna Lockhart, Community Relations Representative with Marathon Petroleum. “I’m really excited about what we have planned for next year.”  

The Back to School Blitz in September featured free school supplies for everyone who attended and free food from local restaurants Two Fat Boys & a Grill and Motown Dawg Slingers. Kids enjoyed carnival rides, music, and special guest Smiley the Clown, a Detroit legend. The refinery’s community partners, Wayne Metro, Mark Twain Elementary and Starfish Family Services, were on hand to provide resources to parents.  

The refinery is scheduling events for 2022, which will include a financial literacy lunch and learn with community partner Wayne Metropolitan Community Action Agency (Wayne Metro), a non-profit organization serving low-and moderate-income residents throughout Wayne County. 

On August 14^th, the Detroit refinery’s Detroit Forward team hosted its second installment of the Kemeny Fueling Detroit series with the Southwest Detroit Farmers Market.  The event featured 36 local businesses from SW Detroit and the greater downriver area.  Over 200 residents attended the event, along with quite a few MRD employees stopping by to support local businesses.  Two 48217 restaurants (Two Fat Boys & a Grill and Catfish and a Cure) were featured, providing free catfish dinners and corned beef sandwiches to all that attended.  MRD employees hosted two tables at the event – one to teach residents about what goes on at the refinery, and another hosted by the women’s network to pass out free feminine hygiene products from the nonprofit, Helping Women Period.  We have two more events for this series — The Back to School Blitz (Saturday, September 11th) and the Health and Harvest Fair (Saturday, October 9th).  If you’re interested in either,  sign up here for more information!

The Detroit Forward team held a Nonprofit/Employee Giving Summit on August 24^th.  This event was an extension of the monthly Detroit Forward: Nonprofit Spotlight.  Thirteen nonprofits were featured at the event, with MRD employees being able to talk to them one-on-one about the work that they’re doing in 48217.  The nonprofits that were featured were excited that how engaged the employees were and are excited to see how we can further partner on future projects! See below for a list of the featured organizations:

• Covenant House Michigan
• Matrix Human Services
• Detroit Police Athletic League (Detroit PAL)
• AmeriCorps Urban Safety Program
• Friends of the Rouge
• Wayne Metropolitan Community Action Agency
• Brilliant Detroit
• St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital
• Mercy Education Project
• Southwest Detroit Environmental Vision
• Bees in the D
• Detroit Greenways Coalition
• Girl Scouts of Southeastern Michigan

MRD employees were excited to sign up for volunteer opportunities and donate to these organizations (with a 100% from Marathon) to help their continued work in the SW Detroit community!

The Detroit refinery is excited to host a Southwest Detroit Farmers Market at Kemeny Recreation Center on August 14th (11 AM – 2 PM)! This will be the second event of our Fueling Detroit series, following our family movie night earlier this month on July 9th.  This event will feature free entertainment and giveaways at the door.  The first 100 guests will receive $20 in vouchers that they can use to purchase items at the market — the vendors featured will be selling baked goods, candy, apparel, household goods, health and wellness products, and much more!  The event will also feature free food from two local vendors in 48217: Fry For The Cure & 2 Fat Boys and a Grill.

If you’re interested in attending the farmers market, click this link to secure your spot!

If you’re interested in being a vendor (there is no fee), click this link to sign up!

Any questions about this event can be directed to BreAnna Lockhart at blockhart@marathonpetroleum.com.