Youth projects receive funding from Operation Round Up
May 14, 2009

BRAHAM, MN-Several local youth-oriented projects will move forward with the help of Operation Round Up® funds distributed recently.

 

The East Central Energy (ECE) Operation Round Up Trust Board met April 28 to review applications for the spring grant cycle. More than $21,000 was awarded, with over $8,000 of that going to projects in the Education and Youth category. In the Environment category, the $2,500 grant also supports youth activities at a camp on the St. Croix River.

 

Operation Round Up funds are donated by ECE members who volunteer to have their monthly electric bill rounded up to the next whole dollar. The money goes into a fund. Each quarter, an independent trust board, made up of ECE members, reviews the grant applications and selects the recipients. Since it was launched by ECE in 1997, Operation Round Up has poured more than $1 million into local communities.

 

Grant recipients for the spring cycle include:

 

Education and Youth 

• Bear Creek Community Development Corporation-$1,500 to assist with the purchase of computers and software for the McGrath Community Investment Initiative. The program will provide supervised computer access for youth, young adults and entrepreneurs in the McGrath, MN area who don’t currently have access.

• Four Corners Elementary PTA-$1,000 to assist with the purchase of snowshoes so the students at Four Corners Elementary in the Town of Superior, WI can use their school’s trail for winter exercise. 

• North Branch Area Athletic Association-$1,173 to assist with the purchase of baseball safety equipment for North Branch, MN traveling teams. 

• Pine County 4-H-$2,500 to assist with the purchase of Lego® Mindstorms kits, educational NXT software and supplies for a robotics program.  

• Pine Technical College Employment and Training Center-$2,000 to assist with the purchase of supplies for the Learning for Life conference at Pine Technical College in Pine City, MN.

 Environment

• YouthCARE-$2,500 to support YouthCARE’s Camp Sunrise program on the St. Croix River near Rush City, MN.

 

Community Service

• Braham Community Garden Club-$2,000 to purchase hanging baskets, plants and other gardening items to be used to beautify the City of Braham, MN. 

• Brook Park Volunteer Fire Dept.-$3,600 to purchase mobile radios for fire trucks in Brook Park, MN. 

• Family Pathways-$5,000. The funds will be used to purchase $3,000 worth of food and to provide other support for the organization’s seven east central Minnesota community food shelves.

ECE members who would like to join the Operation Round Up program can sign up by calling 1-800-254-7944. Non-profit organizations which serve ECE members can contact Tina Lanhart, 763-691-2065, if they are interested in applying for an Operation Round Up grant.