Members donate spare change to serve their communities

Utilities District of Western Indiana REMC launched "Operation Round Up," an innovative program that gives members an avenue to make a tremendous difference where they live by combining their spare change for the good of their communities.

Over the years, many groups and individuals have requested donations from Utilities District of Western Indiana REMC. Many of the requests have been for large sums of money and have been for worthwhile, community-oriented projects. The only drawback for UDWI is that it serves 11 counties, making it difficult to disperse donations equally throughout its territory.

The UDWI Board of Directors began looking for a program that would create a pool of available funds that could be used to strengthen the surrounding communities. The answer was Operation Round Up, a program developed by Palmetto Electric Cooperative in South Carolina that has been adopted by numerous utilities across the country and has proven to be a tremendous success.

It all works just as it sounds - "round up." All electric bills are rounded up to the next whole dollar amount. For example, if a bill totals $37.11, the amount due will be $38.00. All electric bills will continue to be processed and mailed in the same way.

The UDWI Community Fund, a non-profit corporation created by the REMC to distribute these funds, awards grants quarterly based on selection guidelines. Though UDWI directors control the bylaws of the fund, the actual monies are distributed separately from UDWI by a board of volunteer trustees who make the grant determinations. The community funds are kept in an accounting system separate from UDWI and are used entirely for grant awards. No grants will be awarded to pay electric bills, deposits, or memberships or provide aid for electric service of any kind.

Each form requests private individual information before the grant can be awarded.

If you would like more information about Operation Round Up and the UDWI Community Fund, call (812) 384-4446 or (800) 489-7362. UDWI looks forward to awarding a portion of these grant funds to your local community.

The next round of Community Fund recipients will be selected in March. Applications are being accepted now through March 7, 2019. Applicants will be notified on or before March 21st.