SAN RAMON, Calif., Aug. 29, 2013 – Chevron U.S.A. Inc. (NYSE: CVX) announced the expansion of its Fuel Your School program to 14 U.S. communities this fall from nine communities in 2012.  Designed to support education for local public schools based on the specific requests of each classroom, Fuel Your School will help meet the critical need for classroom funding in various communities where Chevron operates.

Last year, Chevron funded $4.49 million worth of classroom projects in nine U.S. markets. This year, from Oct. 1 through Oct. 31, 2013, Chevron will contribute $1 to help fund eligible classroom projects when consumers purchase eight or more gallons of fuel at participating Chevron and Texaco stations in the participating U.S. communities, up to a total contribution of nearly $7.1 million.

"Effective education in the STEM subjects—science, technology, engineering and math—can help prepare bright young students to be the engineers, geologists and doctors of the future, driving innovation and economic growth," said Dale Walsh, president of Chevron Americas Products. "Fuel Your School provides teachers with essential tools and resources, including hands-on project materials that often do not receive funding from traditional sources. These resources are critical to spurring students' interest in and understanding of the STEM subjects."

In the U.S., Fuel Your School is an innovative collaboration between Chevron and DonorsChoose.org, an online organization dedicated to helping students in need. The program was driven by the lack of adequate school funding, which has left some teachers without basic supplies to help students complete their classroom assignments. Since its inception in 2010, Fuel Your School has helped fund 8,915 classroom projects at 1,924 schools. The program has grown each year to support students in various communities where Chevron has business operations and has reached 899,180 students.

"Last year, the average public school teacher spent approximately $485 of their own money on school supplies, instructional materials and other classroom materials needed for student learning," said Charles Best, CEO of DonorsChoose.org. "By using our website, combined with Chevron's community relationships and retail network, we can expand the Fuel Your School program to support more schools, empower more teachers and improve more students' education."

All year, public school teachers across the U.S. post classroom project requests on DonorsChoose.org. Their needs range from pencils to microscope slides and even live tarantulas for use with biology lessons. One of those requests came from Paula Baucom, a teacher at Will Rogers Middle School in Fair Oaks, a suburb in Sacramento County, Calif., who lacked the resources to provide students with fun, hands-on scientific activities. With the help of the Fuel Your School program, she and her students received owl pellets, along with a curriculum guide that included bone sorting charts and other resources. These materials allowed her students to take on the role of actual scientists as they probed, classified, sorted, and analyzed the bones inside the owl pellets.

"With the state of the California budget, funding for essential hands-on science experiences has been extremely limited," Baucom said. "With the generosity that Chevron extended through the Fuel Your School program, my students had the opportunity to make connections about food chains and ecosystems that wouldn't have been possible otherwise, and developed an increased interest and passion in science."

This program is one of many in which Chevron works with local communities, governments and nonprofit organizations to increase learning opportunities for students and support the social and economic vitality of communities. Chevron has invested more than $100 million in STEM education programs over the past three years.  

The 2013 Fuel Your School program will help fund eligible classroom projects developed by public school teachers and posted to DonorsChoose.org in the following communities:

• Alameda and Contra Costa counties, Calif.

• Sacramento County, Calif.

• Select cities in the South Bay* portion of Los Angeles County, Calif.

• Anchorage and Matanuska-Susitna boroughs, Alaska

• Multnomah and Washington counties, Ore.

• Salt Lake and Davis counties, Utah

• St. Tammany, Orleans, Plaquemines, St. Bernard, Lafourche, Terrebonne, Lafayette, Jefferson and Vermillion parishes, La.

• Clayton, DeKalb and Fulton counties, Georgia

• Miami-Dade County, Florida

Chevron also supports similar marketer co-funded programs in Ector County, Texas, and Del Norte, Humboldt, Lake and Mendocino counties, California, as well as similar international programs in Canada; Johannesburg, South Africa; and Johor and Kedah, Malaysia.

Public school teachers and other educators from the 14 U.S. communities are invited to post eligible project requests at www.DonorsChoose.org beginning Sept. 1, 2013, for possible funding as part of the Fuel Your School program.

Consumers can track the classroom projects in need of funding and see how much money is being earned for public schools in each community by visiting www.FuelYourSchool.com. Donations earned through Fuel Your School will be used to help fund eligible classroom projects from Oct. 2 through Nov. 30, 2013, or until funds generated by this program have been exhausted by eligible projects. Anyone, including consumers and Chevron employees, may also independently fund classroom projects on the DonorsChoose.org website by making separate, individual donations.

*South Bay is defined as the cities of Carson, Compton, Culver City, El Segundo, Gardena, Hawthorne, Hermosa Beach, Inglewood, Lawndale, Lennox, Lomita, Long Beach, Manhattan Beach, Marina Del Rey, Playa Del Rey, Palos Verdes Estates, Rancho Palos Verdes, Redondo Beach, Rolling Hills, Santa Monica, Westchester, and Torrance.

About Chevron

Chevron is one of the world's leading integrated energy companies, with subsidiaries that conduct business worldwide. The company is involved in virtually every facet of the energy industry. Chevron explores for, produces and transports crude oil and natural gas; refines, markets and distributes transportation fuels and lubricants; manufactures and sells petrochemical products; generates power and produces geothermal energy; provides energy efficiency solutions; and develops the energy resources of the future, including biofuels. Chevron is based in San Ramon, Calif. More information about Chevron is available at www.chevron.com.

About DonorsChoose.org

Founded in 2000, DonorsChoose.org is an online charity that makes it easy for anyone to help students in need.  Public school teachers from every corner of America post requests, and individuals can give directly to the ones that inspire them. To date, 250,000 public and charter school teachers have used DonorsChoose.org to secure $184 million in books, art supplies, technology, and other resources that their students need to learn.

Visit www.donorschoose.org/intro to hear Oprah Winfrey and Stephen Colbert tell the DonorsChoose.org story.