Operation Round Up News
Twice a year, in the spring and the fall, the Wood County Electric Charitable Foundation board members meet to consider grant requests from charities within the co-op’s 9-county service territory. In this latest giving round, they wrote $64,000 worth of checks to 11 organizations. These grants range from $1,000 to $10,000 and will help to continue or add essential services to improve the communities where WCEC members live, work, learn, and play.
The board comprises members of WCEC, each representing one of the seven districts the co-op serves. This round, they reviewed grant requests from 18 different organizations. Many thoughtful hours went into reading each organization’s requests, looking at their reach, the community represented, and amounts granted in the past. The organizations and their projects that received the most recent awards are:
$1,000 to Van Zandt County Veterans Memorial, a public museum in Canton that honors our U.S. veterans' courage, sacrifice, and service. The memorial consists of a plaza filled with vintage military vehicles and equipment, a US Air Force F-4 phantom aircraft, and a museum that houses military artifacts.
$1,400 to help fund the Rains County Dolly Parton Imagination Library, which provides free monthly books delivered by mail to children ages 0 to 5 in Rains County. Increasing access to books at an early age has been proven to increase literacy by improving children’s attitudes towards reading, elevating their preparedness upon entering school.
$4,400 to Safe Haven Animal Rescue of East Texas, a non-profit that rescues and cares for abandoned, lost, and abused dogs and cats in Wood, Camp, Hopkins, Rains, Upshur, and Van Zandt Counties. Through a network of volunteers, it provides compassionate no-kill care to neuter/spay and provides food and veterinary care. This grant offers low-cost/no-cost spaying and neutering to help control the population that leads to abandonment.
$10,000 to Lake Country CASA, which is an organization of volunteers that serve as advocates for the well-being and safety of abused and neglected children. The grant will be used to help meet the needs of those children.
$5,000 to Regional East Texas Food Bank, which distributes food in 26 East Texas counties, including all those the co-op serves. The grant will help them continue distributing fresh produce and protein to the mobile pantries in Quitman and Mineola.
$10,000 to Breaking Bread Community Food Pantry is in Grand Saline and open to all residents within the Grand Saline and Fruitvale ISDs. They will use the money to increase the number of families served by providing nutritious food.
$7,500 to Winnsboro Resource & Community Center, which oversees the Salvation Army ministry in the Winnsboro Community. It also provides food assistance to Wood, Franklin, Hopkins, and Camp Counties residents, where the grant will be applied.
$3,000 to Wood County Epsilon Gamma Chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma Society International, which promotes the professional and personal growth of women educators and excellence in education. They will use the money to build an awning over the Little Free Library in Mineola.
$5,520 to Van Zandt Midway Fire Department, which provides rescue services in Van Zandt County and offers mutual aid to other regional fire departments. The money will go toward upgrading their forest and wildland fire suppression equipment.
$6,000 to Save the Pool, a nonprofit that supports the Grand Saline public pool, which is open to all for water recreation. They are using the grant to update the restrooms to accommodate those with disabilities and to replace the chair lift. They will also purchase a robotic vacuum.
$10,180 to Help Young People Excel, H.Y.P.E, a Winnsboro organization that uplifts area youth by promoting community involvement and offers scholarships, mentoring, and tutoring programs while helping to build positive values. The grant will add a restroom to their building where they hold activities.
All the WCECF funds come from WCEC’s membership through Operation Round Up. Members who participate have their monthly bill rounded up to the next dollar. The rounded-up money is sent to WCECF and used for charitable community endeavors. On average, each co-op member only contributes about $6 a year, but these small individual donations, together with others, accumulate to create a significant positive impact on communities. The program is voluntary, allowing members to opt out at any time.
Since inception, the program has granted over $791,830.00 to non-profits within WCEC’s 9-county area. Local non-profits that wish to apply for a grant may learn more about the program and download an application, visit. https://www.wcec.org/community/operation-round-up/
