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Ashe Community Helping Agencies Receive Foundation Grants
(back row l-r): Captain Robert Poe, Ashe County Rescue Squad; April Blevins, Ashe District Manager; Mike Farmer, Pond Mountain Volunteer Fire & Rescue, Inc.; Cindy Price, Blue Ridge Energy Board of Directors; Melody Rector, Shoes For Kids; James Young and David Boone Blue Ridge Energy Board of Directors; Laura Dye, Riverview Community Center
Ashe County citizens will benefit from five grants worth $43,500 awarded recently to local helping agencies from Blue Ridge Energy Members Foundation for the 2024 grant cycle.
The grants are examples of why Blue Ridge Energy established the Members Foundation in 2007 to support the work of community organizations providing services vital to the quality of life for the cooperative’s members. Since then, the Foundation has awarded over $1.84 million in community grants. Projects in the areas of health, wellness, education, youth, and economic and community development are the Foundation’s priorities for support.
A grand total of $150,000 was awarded to 20 organizations across the Blue Ridge Energy service area for the 2024 grant cycle. Local Ashe County agencies receiving grant awards include:
- Ashe County Rescue Squad – $8,500 will help purchase a drone primarily to search for missing persons. The drone will have thermal imaging and a searchlight to aid rescuers in locating missing and injured victims;
- Ashe Memorial Hospital Foundation - $10,000 funding will support the purchase of new equipment to provide hearing tests on newborn babies;
- Pond Mountain Volunteer Fire & Rescue – $10,000 to help fund the expansion project of Fire Station #2 to have adequate space for apparatus and equipment;
- Riverview Community Center - $7,500 grant to help replace two metal entrance doors. The doors will secure the facility for community members and visitors who use the Community Center daily;
- Shoes For Kids - $7,500 grant to continue providing properly fitting, season-appropriate, no-cost footwear to Ashe County children in need;
In 2024, the Foundation also provided crisis funding assistance to more than 1,000 Blue Ridge Energy members who needed emergency help paying their electric and fuel bills. In 2024 and continuing into 2025, the Foundation will provide additional crisis energy assistance to members most affected by Hurricane Helene through our special Hurricane Helene Mountain Strong fund.
Funding for Foundation grants and crisis assistance comes from members participating in Blue Ridge Energy’s Operation Round Up® and Operation Round Up Plus® programs and an annual contribution from profits of the cooperative’s subsidiaries, Blue Ridge Energy, LLC, and RidgeLink, LLC. Over 23,500 members are either rounding up their monthly electric bill with Operation Round Up or adding a dollar or more with Operation Round Up Plus. Members also contribute by donating some or all of their annual capital credits.
Anyone with questions about the Foundation or agencies interested in applying for grants may contact Tasha Rountree director of community relations, at 828-759-8994 or trountree@blueridgeenergy.com.
Blue Ridge Energy is a member-owned electric cooperative serving some 79,000 members in Caldwell, Watauga, Ashe, and Alleghany counties and parts of Wilkes, Avery, and Alexander counties. It also includes a propane heating fuels subsidiary and a business-to-business telecommunications subsidiary. Learn more at www.BlueRidgeEnergy.com.
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