Broad River Electric Charities has provided another $25,000 from its Operation Round Up® fund to local charities and causes, an identical amount that has been donated in the organization’s previous two grant cycles. On Broad River Electric Cooperative’s 75th anniversary of incorporation on June 10th, $75,000 will have been donated to non-profit organizations in the area.
Organizations receiving Operation Round Up® funds this cycle include Cherokee Alliance of Visual Artists (CAVA), Cherokee County Children’s Home, Cherokee County Pregnancy Center, We Girlz Rock, District Five Family Ministries, HALTER, Jerusalem Project of Union County, Miracle League of Union, SC Hunters and Landowners for the Hungry, Salkehatchie Summer Service in Union, Union County Crimestoppers, Union County Foster Parent Association, and Union County Disabilities and Special Needs Board.
CAVA, which provides art education and cultural exposure, received $1,500 to defray costs of exhibits and materials for children’s classes. The $3,000 grant to the Cherokee Children’s Home will go toward a new multi-purpose activity building for the local shelter for displaced children. The Cherokee County Pregnancy Center, which provides prenatal and postnatal services, will use the $2,000 donation to train staff and volunteers. We Girlz Rock, Inc. is an organization that encourages and empowers girls with new experiences and educational opportunities. They received $1,500 for supplies and to fund museum tours.
A $5,000 grant to District Five Family Ministries in Wellford will help families in crisis with bills and medical assistance. HALTER, a therapeutic horseback riding program that serves Spartanburg residents and students at the South Carolina School for the Deaf and Blind, received $2,500 to upgrade their facilities. South Carolina Hunters and Landowners for the Hungry, which coordinates the distribution of venison from hunters to hungry people, got a $1,500 grant to improve their storage capabilities.
Jerusalem Project of Union County and Salkehatchie Summer Service each received $2,000 to repair homes in Union County. Union County Crimestoppers will put their $500 grant toward rewards for tips to law enforcement that result in arrests. A $750 donation to Union County Foster Parent Association will support education and training for foster children and their parents. The Union County Disabilities and Special Needs Board received $750 to purchase equipment and supplies for their non-ambulatory clients.
“The generosity our members powers this initiative” said Charities Board Chair Barbara Whitney. “It is through their donations that we are able to distribute these funds and make an impact in our communities.”
Donations to the selected charities come from Broad River Electric’s Operation Round Up program. Each month, participating members’ account balances are rounded up to the nearest dollar. That extra change goes to the benevolent fund that assists organizations and goodwill missions in and around Broad River’s service area.
Funds from Operation Round Up are distributed quarterly through Broad River Electric Charities, Inc, which is governed by a 7-member board representing the cooperative and the three major counties it serves – Cherokee, Union and Spartanburg. Members of the Charities Board are Daisy Lemmons and Nancy Jordan of Cherokee County, Jane Rhinehart and Barbara Whitney of Spartanburg County, Carolyn Belue and Carol Smith of Union County and Broad River Electric Interim President and CEO Richard Baines (ex-officio). Organizations wishing to request funds can contact the cooperative to begin the application process.
Broad River Electric Charities is a philanthropic subsidiary of Broad River Electric Cooperative, a non-profit, member-owned distribution cooperative providing services to more than 20,000 members in Cherokee, Spartanburg Union and Newberry counties in South Carolina and Cleveland, Polk and Rutherford counties in North Carolina in order to improve the quality of their lives.