(Jackson, Mn.)– Federated Rural Electric’s Operation Round Up program has surpassed the $1 million milestone for funds given back to local organizations and for high school scholarships. Federated REA marketing and communications manager Andrea Christoffer has been with Federated since Operation Round Up started…
“It’s actually a fun time. I was with Operation Round Up when it started back in the mid 90’s so its really fun to see the progress and all the difference you can make with small change over our two county service area of Jackson and Martin county and kind of the surrounding areas as well.”
April’s donations totaled $19,939 which brings the total to $1,003,521. Christoffer talks about the six different categories…
“One of them is community service so that includes things like public safety or fire department, ambulances and the equipment they need for that. Community service, different events going on or organization. Community Leadership is the second category. The third category is education and youth projects so that’s a lot of our youth groups, that’s our 4H, that’s our Robotics team, that’s equipment at the school, those kind of things. Health and wellness falls in there as well. The next category is environmental projects. We’ve seen some environmental things as well like with Prairie Ecology bus or different environmental events. The next category is emergency energy assistance funds so this actually helps Federated members that are having a tough time paying their bills. The local agencies apply for those dollars to help out those members in distress. And the last category is disaster relief so the Red Cross and those types of organizations have applied for funds as well.”
Operation Round Up is possible as Federated Members can round up their bill to the nearest dollar amount. The extra money then goes to make a difference in Jackson and Martin Counties. Federated REA is a Touchstone Energy cooperative serving 5300 members in Jackson and Martin Counties.
