Contributed report
Wright-Hennepin Cooperative Electric Association (WH) members who participate in Operation Round Up (ORU) donated grants totaling $39,400 in December.
ORU has awarded more than $5.1 million since it began in 1994.
ORU participants allow their electric bills to be rounded up to the nearest dollar. The rounded amount is then used for donations supporting local programs. Approximately 90% of WH’s members participate in the ORU program, contributing a total of almost $20,000 each month. ORU’s board manages the donated money, which is held in a trust fund. Through a selection process and review of guidelines, the ORU trustees evaluate funding requests on a bimonthly basis.The ORU trust board donated the following on behalf of WH members at their December meeting:
• $10,000, Society of St. Vincent de Paul (St. Michael-Albertville chapter), funds to support families in need.
• $7,500, Children’s Home Society of MN, funds to support education and adoption services and family support.
• $7,500, Wishes & More, funds to support wishes for children battling serious health conditions.
• $5,000, YMCA Camp Ihduhapi, funds to support scholarship for day and overnight camp programs.
• $3,900, Otsego Lions Gifts Anonymous, funds to support families in need over Christmas.
• $3,000, Angel Bears of Love, funds to support the gift of an Angel Bear to children and adults with life-threatening diseases.
• $2,500, Friends of the Monticello Library, funds to support reading in families and Books for Babies.
Learn about the activities ORU supports and find the grant application by visiting bit.ly/WH-ORU, emailing oru@whe.org, or calling ORU Trust Administrator Lisa Zipp at (763) 477-6126.
Wright-Hennepin Cooperative Electric Association is a member-owned, not-for-profit electric utility that provides power to rural Wright County and western Hennepin County. The cooperative has been a corporate citizen to the area since 1937 and currently serves more than 59,000 electric accounts. It is headquartered in Rockford.