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Pat Clevenger

Most Valuable Commuter March 2010
Employer: Avista Corporation

After his third day of working at Avista nearly seven years ago, Pat Clevenger, Transmission Design Engineer started vanpooling. At that time, Avista had their own van and they had five people on the vanpool when he joined. He recruited four others to bring it to nine. When Avista’s van died, they started one up with STA and Pat was instrumental in recruiting another 6 people.

As the primary driver and accountant, Pat goes above and beyond to make it work. Sending out statements, managing payments and when they lose a passenger, he begins recruiting and encourages the other passengers to recruit too. “It’s the most efficient way to get to work, especially with a 50 mile commute,” stated Pat. “I put less gas in my tank, less miles on my truck and I’m helping to reduce emissions with 14 passengers on the vanpool.”

Pat enjoys the camaraderie on the vanpool too. Sharing stories and talking about work, allows him to not bring work home with him. ETC, Catherine Bowden says “With his leadership and encouragement, Pat truly lives his passion for vanpooling in all the help he gives to the CTR program as a shining vanpool ambassador at Avista!” Way to Go Pat!