Operation Round Up awards grants

The Kootenai Electric Trust Board recently awarded quarterly Operation Round Up grants. The Trust Board received 13 grant requests and awarded $16,000 to the following applicants:

$2,500 to Athol Elementary to purchase Chromebooks for a third-grade class.

$2,500 to Gizmo-CDA for the “Pi in the Sky” camp.

$2,500 to Idaho Drug Free Youth to support services that increase drug prevention skills and awareness for North Idaho students.

$2,500 to the Rathdrum Senior Center to purchase a regulator for a stove gas line, batteries for electric wheelchairs and parking lot striping.

$1,500 to ICARE of St. Vincent de Paul to provide scholarship funding for facilitator training.

$1,500 to Inland Northwest Opera to underwrite the cost of performing a children’s opera at elementary schools in North Idaho.

$1,200 to Christian Youth Theater of North Idaho to purchase storage shelves.

$1,000 to the Mission of Charity to provide support to those most in need.

$800 to St. Maries High School to purchase two Adobe Cloud software leases for the film program.

Operation Round Up began at KEC in November of 2002, and since has donated more than $1,000,000 to those in need in our region. Operation Round Up is just what its name implies. Each month, KEC “rounds up” the electric bills of participating consumers to the next highest dollar. For example, a consumer’s monthly bill of $52.73 would be automatically rounded up to $53.00, with the additional 27 cents going to the Operation Round Up fund. The next grant applications are due July 27, 2018. KEC members who choose not to contribute to Operation Round Up, or who would like to begin contributing, may simply “opt-out” or “opt-in” on their bill or contact KEC by phone, letter or email.