Grants help pay medical bills
Having an illness or disease can be emotionally and physically draining. It can also put a massive dent in the checkbook—even if a person has adequate health insurance. That’s why the Capital Electric Charitable Trust board of directors awarded grants to two people who are suffering from a spinal injury and cancer.
Pat Ryberg, board director for the Charitable Trust, says onetime or specific needs like these take priority when the board meets to determine grant worthiness.
The five-person board of directors met Feb. 10, 2009, to review grant applications. Capital Electric members Dennis Burrer, Ed McCarty, Phil McKenzie, Pat Ryberg and Quirina Schmidt reviewed the applications and approved 13 grants for the total of $13,250. The grants were awarded in a check presentation ceremony on Feb. 19 at co-op headquarters in Bismarck.
Those receiving grants from the Charitable Trust included:
• A person: To help cover medical expenses relating to cancer treatment;
• A person: To help cover medical expenses for spinal injuries;
• Central Dakota Children’s Choir: For tuition scholarships;
• Child’s Hope Learning Center: For operating expenses;
• Community Action Program: For the food pantry;
• North Dakota Association for the Disabled: For Escape to the Lake Extravaganza;
• Red Ribbon Carnival Committee: For a drug-free carnival;
• Riverside Elementary: For second grade field trips;
• Ruth Meiers Hospitality House: For the women’s and children’s shelter;
• Shiloh Christian School: For an elevator;
• The Banquet: To provide free meals to the community;
• UND School of Medicine Mentoring Program: For mentoring costs; and
• United Way: For the Dolly Parton Imagination Library.
How does Operation Round Up work?
Operation Round Up is a voluntary program set up for Capital Electric Cooperative members. Consumers agree to have their monthly electric billings “rounded up” to the nearest dollar each month. Those rounded-up pennies are then placed in the Capital Electric Charitable Trust and awarded to various groups and organizations. Almost 6,000 electric customers participate in Operation Round Up, generating almost $3,000 a month in funds for the trust. Since its inception in August 1997, more than 31 million pennies in Operation Round Up funds have been donated to various organizations and individuals in the Capital Electric service area.
Wes Engbrecht, director of communications and public relations for the co-op, says any person in the counties of Burleigh and Sheridan may submit an application to receive an Operation Round Up grant. The next application deadline will be July 31.
Every member can make a difference!
If you’re a Capital Electric member and you do not currently round up your bill, please consider participating in the Operation Round Up program! Your donation is tax deductible and members who give will receive a summarized statement in their last billing statement of the year.
Thanks to the pennies awarded through the latest batch of grants, two people received much-needed assistance to help cover some of their mounting medical bills. They greatly appreciate the Operation Round Up program, and co-op members made this possible. You, too, can make a difference, for less than a dollar each month.
To have your utility bill rounded up, please call Capital Electric Cooperative at (701) 223-1513 and tell our staff you’d like to support Operation Round Up. Or to download an application, click here. Every member can truly make a difference.