Jeremy Vranesevich was working as a machinist for Norfolk Southern in early February when a train operated by his company derailed in his town of East Palestine, Ohio.
Weeks later, he became Atlanta-based Norfolk Southern’s community liaison in East Palestine as the company makes contributions in the wake of the wreck.
Many residents are distrustful of the railroad, a reality Vranesevich has understood from the start.
In an interview, Vranesevich shared how he found himself in the role overseeing distribution of $1 million to his community and what he has tried to accomplish in the six months since the derailment. This interview was edited for brevity and clarity.
How long have you worked for Norfolk Southern?
Sixteen years. Never went to college. My neighbor worked for the railroad and I kind of didn’t know what I wanted to do. But I saw the way my neighbor lived, and you know, I wouldn’t mind living that way.
In high school, I wanted to be an auto body mechanic. So I started working for a local auto body shop. It’s a rough life. I saw how those people lived, and by that I mean living paycheck to paycheck.
Then I look at my neighbor and he travels in nice vehicles, he’s comfortable. And I’m like man, that is for sure how I see my future. I don’t want to have to struggle. I don’t want to have to tell my family no on certain things. You want to provide for your family as any parent would want to.
So I applied and started out as a fireman and oiler. Fueled engines, dumped toilets, just anything to get my foot in the door. And from there I became a machinist and went to school in McDonough, Georgia, the Norfolk Southern (training center).
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
How did you meet Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw and end up in the position of community liaison?
Shortly after the derailment, I received an e-mail from Alan Shaw. It was a heartfelt e-mail saying, we know you work for Norfolk Southern, we know you’re an East Palestine resident.
In conversation with my wife, I said, guess who I got an e-mail from today? The CEO, Alan Shaw. She’s like, yeah, you really think that he sent you an e-mail? Like, I don’t know. It was addressed from him, it had to have been him. There was not a lot of support for Norfolk Southern. But I’m like, man, I really feel like they are trying to do the right thing. I told her, I’m going to reach back out to him and just let him know that I believe in what you’re doing. The week progressed and my wife said, hey, did you ever send that e-mail to Alan? She said, if you’re going to send it, you’ve got to send it now.
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
So I finish the e-mail, hit send, with the thought of, man, it would be pretty cool if I got an e-mail back from him that said thank you.
I get a phone call from a strange number. And I’m like, oh, it’s a telemarketer, so I just ignored it. Right after the phone call, I got a text message from the same number. It says, this is Stacey from Norfolk Southern. And I’m like oh man. Did I screw up at work? Did they find something in these tanker cars that they didn’t anticipate and we need to evacuate or we need to get tested?
And she said (Alan Shaw) would like to meet with you on Saturday.
I said, Stacey, I’m sorry, but I have a date night planned with my wife on Saturday and she’s always complaining about how we never have time together. And we finally have time together.
I gave my wife Meghan a call and she goes, We’ll for sure find time for him to come over. And I said but another thing is, he wants residents to be there.
This was right after the derailment. Everyone’s angry.
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
She’s like Jeremy, I don’t feel comfortable having people in our house. So I give Stacey a call back, I said, This is our safe haven. We don’t want people knocking on our door with a torch. And Stacey says: Listen, Alan knows he’s going to hear things that he probably don’t want to hear, but he wants to hear the truth.
So I spoke to neighbors. We were sitting down in our living room in a big circle and he was pretty much tearing up, just apologizing. He wanted ideas of what Norfolk Southern can do to alleviate concerns. I told him, if you ever have questions, send me an e-mail. And he says, you know, it’s funny that you say that. I would like to give you a job where you’re trying to make the community better, so that you’re the liaison between the community and the company to help rectify any issues. And you know, that’s that’s what I’ve been doing since February 16th.
Credit: (Matt Freed for the Atlanta Journal Constitution)
Credit: (Matt Freed for the Atlanta Journal Constitution)
They didn’t bring torches?
When I took this role I told myself, Jeremy, You’re going to get dragged through the mud. Someone has to do it, right? As an East Palestine resident, I would want somebody that lives here to have a say in what’s going on. Knock on wood, I have not had any bad encounters.
What have you been working on since stepping into the role?
We buy merchandise (from East Palestine vendors), took it to Atlanta and then we sold it in Atlanta and donated the money.
A local flower shop here in town missed out on Valentine’s Day. So what we did was we bought 100 bouquets of flowers and took them to nursing homes.
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
We came up with vouchers that we handed out to East Palestine High School kids. So when they go to the prom, they take the voucher to the flower shop, they get a free bouquet of flowers or a boutonniere.
Another thing which is near and dear to my heart, the Chamber of Commerce puts on a street fair. Last year, my daughter wanted to ride all the rides. We would have to tell her, no, you can only pick five rides because it gets expensive quick. This year, Norfolk Southern funded the rides so that all rides were free.
I truly believe we’re doing a good thing here. I never thought my railroad career would involve working with the community. You have a plan and plans tend to change.
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Norfolk Southern’s community contributions
Norfolk Southern said it has committed more than $64 million to the community. That includes:
- $25 million in upgrades and improvements at the East Palestine City Park that Norfolk Southern will fund, including a new swimming pool, a new amphitheater, three new playgrounds and baseball field improvements.
- Assistance for more than 10,000 families at the Norfolk Southern family assistance center.
- $3 million reimbursement to the East Palestine Fire Department for equipment used to respond to the derailment
- $1 million community fund established for East Palestine
- $445,000 personal donation by Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw to create a scholarship endowment fund for East Palestine High School seniors to attend college or vocational school
- $300,000 donation to the East Palestine school district
- $300,000 donation to the East Palestine Community Foundation
- $250,000 donation to Ohio-based nonprofit The Way Station
- $8.6 million committed in Western Pennsylvania, near the derailment site.
