MEA grants electrify local nonprofits

WASILLA — From kids to concerts and from musk ox to Little League, nonprofits around the Mat-Su are getting a funding jolt from the local electric cooperative.

Matanuska Electric Association recently announced $78,225 worth of grants from its Operation Roundup program, a quarterly program run by the MEA Charitable Foundation.

Among the largest grants are $10,000 each for the Talkeenta Recycling Committee, the Palmer Little League, Set Free Alaska, the Mat-Su Concert Band and the Alaska Association of Conservation District.

Talkeetna Recycling Committee chair Katie Writer said the grant will go toward a new cardboard bailer at the recycling center.

“MEA has filled our sails to move forward with this project that will benefit the community on many levels,” Writer said in a press release announcing the grants.

The bailer will be used to help the facility repurpose cardboard rather than having area residents burn it or dispose of it in other ways.

Among the other grants awarded was $5,000 to help the Kids Kupboard program, which gives free meals to Mat-Su Valley youth throughout the summer.

In a thank-you letter shared by Kids Kupboard, executive director Lynette Ortolano said the grant funding will help the group with its mission of providing more than 50,000 healthy meals through its summertime and after-school programs.

“We are grateful that you are standing by our side in this great endeavor to combat childhood hunger,” Ortolano wrote. “Thank you so very much for the role that you are playing! We couldn’t do it without you!”

The Operation Roundup grant program is funded through donations from members who opt to “round up” their electricity bill to the nearest dollar. That amount then goes toward grants. Since its inception in 2011, the program has awarded nearly $700,000 in Operation Roundup grants.

The grants are reviewed on a quarterly basis in January, April, July and October.

The full list of this quarter’s grants include:

$10,000 to the Alaska Association of Conservation Districts to purchase equipment for Su Valley High trail improvements$5,000 to Alaska Live Steamers for a perimeter safety fence$1,225 to Family Promise Mat-Su for family shelter and homeless prevention$5,000 to Kids Kupboard$10,000 to Love INC Eagle River for individual/family assistance$4,000 to the Musk Ox Development Corporation for pasture fencing$10,000 to the Palmer Little League for field improvements$10,000 to Set Free Alaska for development of a children’s program$10,000 to the Talkeetna Community Council for the purchase of a cardboard bailer$2,000 to the Upper Susitna Food Pantry for food transportation$6,000 to the YAK youth center for furniture upgrades.

For more information on the grant program, visit mea.coop.