VERC Enterprises, a convenience store and Mobil/Gulf gasoline operator in Duxbury, Massachusetts, recently presented R.J. Grey Junior High School in Acton, Massachusetts, with a check for $500, a grant made possible through the ExxonMobil Educational Alliance Program.
Funded by the ExxonMobil Corp. and Global Partners LP, the ExxonMobil Educational Alliance program is designed to provide local retailers an opportunity to invest in the future of their communities through educational grants to neighborhood schools.
Jen Tomer, team leader of VERC East Acton Mobil, presented the check to Andrew Shen, principal at R.J. Grey Junior High School.
“We’re proud to participate in such a fine program that recognizes and supports the quality of local schools,” said Jim Fitzgerald, president of VERC Enterprises.
The company is an independent chain of convenience stores and gasoline stations with locations throughout Eastern Massachusetts and New Hampshire. The company began 50 years ago with a single car wash in Marshfield, Massachusetts. The original business was founded by Eugene Vercollone. Today, the business remains under family ownership, with Mr. Vercollone’s sons, Leo and Paul, serving as CEO and SVP, respectively. Longtime VERC team member Jim Fitzgerald serves as the company’s president.
With more than 350 employees, the company hires individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities and has more than 20 percent of its workforces comprised of IDD (Intellectually/Developmentally Disabled) citizens. VERC maintains ongoing partnerships with organizations including Best Buddies, ARC of Greater Plymouth and others to provide employment opportunities for IDD individuals.
VERC also is working with the state’s Re-Entry program to provide employment opportunities for former inmates who have been rehabilitated. VERC Enterprises has been recognized by the Boston Business Journal as a Best Place to Work in Massachusetts and as a Leader in Diversity; the company has also been repeatedly honored by the Boston Globe as a Best Place to Work in Massachusetts. In 2017, VERC was named Employer of the Year by both the Massachusetts Commission for the Blind and The ARC of Greater Plymouth.