Watauga County Non-Profit Groups Receive Grants From Blue Ridge Electric Members Foundation
Contact: Renee Whitener, Director of Public Relations, Blue Ridge Electric Membership Corporation, (828) 758-2383, Ext. 3213; or E-mail: Renee Whitener
Boone, North Carolina (December 9, 2008) – Several Watauga County non-profit organizations received a welcome gift today: grants from the Blue Ridge Electric Members Foundation.
Receiving funding at a breakfast reception in Blue Ridge Electric’s Watauga district officer were: High Country Caregiver Foundation, $500, to provide respite vouchers to allow unpaid family caregivers the opportunity to have a break from their care giving duties; Relatives as Parents, $1,500, to provide support and resources so that grandparents or other relatives serving in the care giver role to parent a minor child can more successfully provide care for these children; Blazing Saddles, $1,000, to purchase materials to build specially adapted free-standing stands for the therapeutic riding program; and two multi-county programs: Parent to Parent Family Support Network, $1,500, to provide support for local families with children with special needs who are hospitalized in Winston-Salem (funds will be used in Ashe Alleghany, Watauga and Wilkes counties) and Hospital House, $5,000, for their capital campaign to build a new facility.
Grants to help each of the organizations were made possible by the Blue Ridge Electric Members Foundation, created in 2006 by Blue Ridge Electric Membership Corporation to expand the cooperative’s commitment to help local communities. The Foundation enables Blue Ridge Electric members to help worthy causes in Alleghany, Ashe, Caldwell and Watauga counties, where Blue Ridge Electric serves some 72,000 members.
For this current grant cycle, grants totaling more than $29,133 were awarded to 11 organizations in the Blue Ridge service area.
Foundation grant monies come from Operation Round Up and donations from the cooperative’s propane and heating fuels subsidiary, Blue Ridge Energies. Through Operation Round Up, Blue Ridge members voluntarily choose to have their monthly electric bills rounded up to the next-highest dollar amount. The difference between the two figures – from a penny to a maximum of 99 cents – is the monthly tax-deductible gift.
Local groups in the Blue Ridge Electric service area who would like to apply for a Members Foundation grant should visit the Community tab of www.BlueRidgeEMC.com or call Patty Wheeler, foundation manager, at (828) 264-8894, ext. 4207.
