Operation Roundup® Quick Link Menu
The MEA Roundup® board met in mid- January to choose the recipients of this quarter’s grants. The board is comprised of seven members representing each district of MEA’s service territory: the Matanuska, Susitna and Eagle River Districts. The Foundation’s primary purpose and mission is to provide financial support for individuals, organizations, and nonprofits for food, shelter, clothing, health needs, and education. Since last November, the Foundation’s board has worked diligently to give back to our local communities.
Allocations of grants have been divided into two categories: 50% to be given to 501(c)3 organizations and 30% to individuals with a small percentage for “special consideration” by the board. Priority areas of need include basic needs, medical, arts, public safety, elder support, youth services and community support. All applications are scrutinized by two committees of the board: the “organization” committee and “individual/family” committee with each potential recipient personally interviewed. Grants to individuals will be completely vetted by the sub-committee “Boots on the Ground” comprised of board members Tom McGregor, Karen Tucker and chaired by Kelly Sidebottom. Individual grants are passed through organizations such as churches and organizations like Love, Inc. that acts as a conduit for distribution of the grants. All organizational grants are given to 501(c)3 non-profits and are scrutinized by board members David Dahms, Sue Smith, Cheryll Heinze and Barb Gerard. Grants awarded for the first quarter of 2012 totaled $53,233 and will be given in increments of half now and half in April at the MEA annual meeting. Grants approved in the last quarter of 2011 totaled $35,353.65. The grant recipients are:
Children’s Lunch Box: $2,000 to help provide school lunches through a newly formed arm of Mat-Su Boys and Girls Club. Last year over 100,000 meals were provided to kids in the Anchorage School District.
Pillows for Kids: $2,500 to be used for twelve economically disadvantaged youth to be mentored in winter and summer outdoor activities.
Outdoor Heritage: $10,000 scholarships for outdoor education for Alaska’s youth and women.
Chugiak Youth Sports Association: $3,143 for 1500 scholarships to provide year round five-team sports programs for kids three to eight.
Paws for Dignity: $10,000 for a hearing aid dog (a papillon) for a child in our membership area.
Community Sports: $1,500 offers a program called night courts to play basketball from 9 to midnight at the AT &T sports center.
Mat-Su Youth Court: $2500 to provide scholarships for local kids to attend youth court classes.
Talkeetna Build a Plane: $10,000 for completion of a Cherokee 6 built by kids under the guidance of seven certified aircraft mechanics and built to Federal Aviation Regulation standards.
Alaska Live Steamers: $7,000 to help provide privacy fencing around the perimeter of their new location with the expectations of 5,000 tourists in 2012.
Community Arts Council: $10,000 to provide scholarships for 300 local kids for summer 2012 enabling them to attend music and theatrical classes and camps.
Radio Free Palmer: $5,000 to complete the installation of equipment for the station’s studio and transmitter resulting in Palmer’s first FM community radio station. The station will also promote and provide live coverage of community events, and disaster relief communications.
Trapper Creek Community Food Bank: $1,500 to provide funding to this food bank that serves over 200 people in the Willow, Talkeetna and Trapper Creek area.
Individual and family grants have been disbursed totaling $17,243.39 through organizations like Pioneer Christian Fellowship, Christ First United Methodist Church, Fatherless Northwest Widows and Orphans Fund, Love, Inc., and Word of Faith Assembly Church. The churches disburse the recipient’s monies under the “mantra” of a hand up rather than a hand out.
In 2010 the Matanuska Electric Association Board of Directors created the MEA Charitable Foundation, better known as “Operation Roundup.®” The MEA Roundup® program was patterned after the Palmetto Electrical Coop Round Up® program which began in 1989 in South Carolina and has since awarded more than five million dollars back to its three service counties. Operation Roundup® is a program that automatically rounds up a participating MEA member’s electric bill to the nearest dollar. For example, a bill for $17.89 would round up to $18.00 and the $.11 would go to Operation Roundup® who then distributes the money back into our communities.
To apply for a grant please visit www.mea.coop to download a grant application for submittal. Please be sure to submit a W-9 along with the required information from the application.
The Charitable Board reviews and evaluates each application on its own merit; however, please keep in mind the Foundation is not able to help with utility bills per regulatory guidelines. Through the collective efforts of thousands of MEA members this program has made a significant difference in our communities in a relatively short amount of time. Looking forward through 2012 and beyond it has the potential to make an overwhelming difference for the less fortunate.
2012 YTD Award Recipients
The MEA Roundup® board met in mid- January 2012 to choose the recipients of this quarter’s grants. The board is comprised of seven members representing each district of MEA’s service territory: the Matanuska, Susitna and Eagle River Districts. The Foundation’s primary purpose and mission is to provide financial support for individuals, organizations, and nonprofits for food, shelter, clothing, health needs, and education. Since last November, the Foundation’s board has worked diligently to give back to our local communities.
Allocations of grants have been divided into two categories: 50% to be given to 501(c)3 organizations and 30% to individuals with a small percentage for “special consideration” by the board. Priority areas of need include basic needs, medical, arts, public safety, elder support, youth services and community support. All applications are scrutinized by two committees of the board: the “organization” committee and “individual/family” committee with each potential recipient personally interviewed. Grants to individuals will be completely vetted by the sub-committee “Boots on the Ground” comprised of board members Tom McGregor, Karen Tucker and chaired by Kelly Sidebottom. Individual grants are passed through organizations such as churches and organizations like Love, Inc. that acts as a conduit for distribution of the grants. All organizational grants are given to 501(c)3 non-profits and are scrutinized by board members David Dahms, Sue Smith, Cheryll Heinze and Barb Gerard. Grants awarded for the first quarter of 2012 totaled $53,233 and will be given in increments of half now and half in April at the MEA annual meeting. Grants approved in the last quarter of 2011 totaled $35,353.65.
The grant recipients are:
- Children’s Lunch Box: $2,000 to help provide school lunches through a newly formed arm of Mat-Su Boys and Girls Club. Last year over 100,000 meals were provided to kids in the Anchorage School District.
- Pillows for Kids: $2,500 to be used for twelve economically disadvantaged youth to be mentored in winter and summer outdoor activities.
- Outdoor Heritage: $10,000 scholarships for outdoor education for Alaska’s youth and women.
- Chugiak Youth Sports Association: $3,143 for 1500 scholarships to provide year round five-team sports programs for kids three to eight.
- Paws for Dignity: $10,000 for a hearing aid dog (a papillon) for a child in our membership area.
- Community Sports: $1,500 offers a program called night courts to play basketball from 9 to midnight at the AT &T sports center.
- Mat-Su Youth Court: $2500 to provide scholarships for local kids to attend youth court classes.
- Talkeetna Build a Plane: $10,000 for completion of a Cherokee 6 built by kids under the guidance of seven certified aircraft mechanics and built to Federal Aviation Regulation standards.
- Alaska Live Steamers: $7,000 to help provide privacy fencing around the perimeter of their new location with the expectations of 5,000 tourists in 2012.
- Community Arts Council: $10,000 to provide scholarships for 300 local kids for summer 2012 enabling them to attend music and theatrical classes and camps.
- Radio Free Palmer: $5,000 to complete the installation of equipment for the station’s studio and transmitter resulting in Palmer’s first FM community radio station. The station will also promote and provide live coverage of community events, and disaster relief communications.
- Trapper Creek Community Food Bank: $1,500 to provide funding to this food bank that serves over 200 people in the Willow, Talkeetna and Trapper Creek area.
- Individual and family grants have been disbursed totaling $17,243.39 through organizations like Pioneer Christian Fellowship, Christ First United Methodist Church, Fatherless Northwest Widows and Orphans Fund, Love, Inc., and Word of Faith Assembly Church. The churches disburse the recipient’s monies under the “mantra” of a hand up rather than a hand out.
The Charitable Board reviews and evaluates each application on its own merit; however, please keep in mind the Foundation is not able to help with utility bills per regulatory guidelines. Through the collective efforts of thousands of MEA members this program has made a significant difference in our communities in a relatively short amount of time. Looking forward through 2012 and beyond it has the potential to make an overwhelming difference for the less fortunate.
2011 Award Recipients
The Charitable Foundation Board awarded $4,200 at their April, 2011 meeting to the following:
1. Matanuska Masonic Foundation – Books for Bikes
2. Eagle River resident for medical needs
3. Project Linus – Mat-Su Valley Chapter
4. 4 Paws for Ability, Inc. (assistance with a service dog for Willie Koonce)