Memorial Blood Centers’ Bloodmobile is at Great River Energy’s Maple Grove office today.

Approximately 25 of our employees are generously donating the life saving gift of blood. The 25 or so units of blood collected here today amounts to about 72 lives saved!

As the primary supplier of blood to over 30 area hospitals throughout Minnesota and northwestern Wisconsin, Memorial Blood Centers must collect over 2,000 units of blood every week to meet demand.

Learn more at the Memorial Blood Centers website: mbc.org

The economic downturn has resulted in an alarming trend for nonprofits: need is increasing and funding is decreasing. The generosity of Great River Energy employees has bucked that trend – the annual community giving campaign reaches new heights every year.

A group of our employees volunteering their time and labor at a Habitat for Humanity project.

The community giving campaign offers employees the opportunity to have their financial contributions matched by company dollars each fall. This year’s effort raised approximately $80,000 for nonprofit organizations in Minnesota and North Dakota.

Three Minnesota nonprofits – Sherburne County Area United Way, Greater Twin Cities United Way and Community Health Charities Minnesota – and five North Dakota charities – McLean Family Resource Center, Mercer County Women’s Action & Resource Center, Missouri Slope Areawide United Way, Jamestown United Way and Carrie’s Kids – benefited from this outpouring of financial support.

This is just one way that Great River Energy exemplifies that cooperative principle of “concern for community.” Beyond providing reliable electric service, an electric cooperative must strive for the development of sustainable communities.

By the numbers
In 2011, Great River Energy made a difference in the communities it serves in many ways. Here are just a few of our community giving stats:
• $80,000 raised during the employee community giving campaign
• 2,400 paid volunteer hours used by employees
• 48 scholarships awarded to Minnesota and North Dakota students
• 276 lives impacted by company blood drives
• 48 turkeys donated to families in need the week of Thanksgiving

The Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) in Minnesota recognized Dakota Electric Association’s community involvement efforts by naming it the Outstanding Philanthropic Organization for 2011.

(L-R): Mike Ferber, president, Fundraising Solutions; Dakota Electric board member Janet Lekson; Dakota Electric president & CEO Greg Miller; AFP president Heidi Droegemueller; Dakota Electric board chair Jim Sheldon.

Professionals in the community who recognized the cooperative’s generosity over the years nominated Dakota Electric for this award. While the cooperative doesn’t have a large budget for donations, it stretches donations around its service territory, providing support for youth clubs, sporting activities, school districts, nonprofit organizations, health and human services, emergency responders, special fundraising activities and more.

Employees and board members spend time serving chambers of commerce, rotary clubs and various nonprofits and community organizations.

Each year, through the company’s internal “Dakota Cares” campaign, employees donate approximately $20,000 to local charities through the United Way, Community Health Charities and a local food shelf.

Dakota Electric’s community outreach touches individuals and groups throughout its service area.

“We do what we can to be involved in the community,” Dakota Electric President and CEO Greg Miller said. “While we are not a large company that donates a lot of money, we are happy to be recognized for our faithful support to local organizations.”

AFP gives this annual award to organizations that have demonstrated outstanding commitment through financial support and community involvement.

Great River Energy is not only a utility that generates electricity for its members, but is also a corporate citizen that can have an impact on the communities it serves beyond its business purpose.

Great River Energy sponsors events, such as the Mesabi Trail Tour, to demonstrate our commitment to the communities we serve through our member cooperatives.

To demonstrate this, each year Great River Energy partners with organizations and initiatives that have a positive impact on the community and member consumers through sponsorships.

Nothing builds a stronger connection to the environment than getting out in nature and getting your hands dirty. GreenTouch Day is a statewide partnership between Minnesota’s Touchstone Energy Cooperatives and Minnesota State Parks and Trails. On the first Saturday of every May, electric cooperative employees, members and area residents pitch in to spruce up a Minnesota state park.

The Minnesota State Fair continues to highlight agriculture, as well as farm and show animals – a characteristic of many of our cooperative communities. As a sponsor of the Minnesota State Fair Milk Run and exhibit participant in the fair, Great River Energy is able to partner with its member cooperatives to educate fairgoers about electric co-ops.

In North Dakota, Great River Energy sponsors a number of events to support both local organizations and communities near its power plants and other business locations. Some examples include the Hazen concert series, Jamestown Chamber of Commerce Ag Days, Lewis and Clark Days in Washburn and Harvest Fest in Underwood.

These sponsorships present an opportunity for Great River Energy to cultivate community relationships by demonstrating care for the communities where it has employees and members.

Safe sidewalks are an important step toward safe routes to schools. A Great River Energy donation will make it possible for students in one North Dakota community to bike and walk to class without worry.

A donation of ash produced at Great River Energy power plants will help the Safe Routes to Schools program improve the health and well-being of children by enabling and encouraging them to choose active ways to get to school. The project will use Great River Energy ash for the replacement of an existing sidewalk in Washburn, N.D.

The new sidewalks will use bottom ash as a soil stabilizer to help build a firm foundation for concrete, which will incorporate fly ash, another byproduct of coal-fueled electricity generation.

When fly ash is used as a replacement for a portion of cement in sidewalk construction the concrete has been proven to be stronger and longer-lasting. Other community benefits include the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions.

Approximately one ton of greenhouse gas emissions are prevented for every ton of fly ash used in place of cement.

In the wake of a catastrophe, even simple things like a hot meal can make someone’s day. When a group of Great River Energy employees brought lunch to a school damaged by North Dakota flooding, the gesture represented much more than a free lunch.

Great River Energy employees set up a temporary lunch line and served food to students at Longfellow Elementary in Minot, N.D.

Longfellow Elementary School in Minot, N.D., was damaged by historic flooding and is currently under re-construction. To accommodate the school year, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) helped put together a makeshift school with classrooms made of modular trailers connected by tin and plywood breezeway areas. The temporary school has no gym, lunchroom or any large common space area, so instead of a hot lunch program kids eat cold lunches every day.

When a Great River Energy employee became aware of these conditions, the company and its employees found a way to help. An employee contribution committee purchased a hot meal of comfort food – meatballs, mashed potatoes, corn, bread and cake – and employees traveled to Minot to serve.

“We set up in the breezeway with the roasters of food, dished them into individual containers and brought them to the classrooms,” said Great River Energy Communications Specialist Rachel Retterath. “The response from the kids and teachers was overwhelming. Kids couldn’t help themselves from giving hugs to our employees or hide their excitement for the hot food.”

Among the seven cooperative principles is one known as “concern for community,” which states that beyond providing service to members, cooperative businesses must work toward the development of sustainable communities.

Great River Energy works with each of our 28 member cooperatives to ensure that the communities they serve have economic activity, jobs and all of those things that make an area a great place to live. One of the most important components of livable communities is health care.

“In addition to providing reliable, affordable power, we’re out to increase the quality of life of our members,” said Great River Energy Economic Development Director Tom Lambrecht. “Health care is a vital component of community strength.”

The new Essentia Health St. Mary’s-Pelican Rapids Clinic opened in late October.

Great River Energy has helped enhance health care in greater Minnesota by helping its members earn funding from state, regional and national programs that offer grants and loans.

“Our members are tuned in to what’s going on in the community, so we help them get the financial boost that they may need to bring a project to reality,” added Lambrecht.

Great River Energy’s economic development efforts have generated $3.5 million in funding for hospitals and clinics that serve Minnesota’s cooperative members. This year alone, Great River Energy has helped three cooperatives secure financing for major expansions at medical facilities.

Through a program of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Lake Region Electric Cooperative received more than $680,000 in funding for Essentia Health St. Mary’s Clinic to build a new clinic in Pelican Rapids, Minn. According to the terms of the USDA Rural Economic Development Loan and Grant (REDLG) program, the loan will be made with a low interest rate.

In February, Great River Energy assisted North Itasca Electric Cooperative in securing a $740,000 loan that will be used to remodel and expand the Bigfork Valley Hospital. The project includes a new outpatient pharmacy, 24-hour wellness area, dietary kitchen and conference rooms.

A $740,000 USDA loan was recently awarded to Lake Country Power to re-lend to the Community Memorial Hospital in Cloquet, Minn., for an expansion project. Although Lake Country Power doesn’t provide electric service to the hospital, the residents in the surrounding townships will benefit from the hospital expansion.

The economic development efforts of Great River Energy and its member cooperatives are another way that electric cooperatives are improving the quality of life in communities they serve.

Dale and Marie Katterhagen have a passion for conservation in its many forms, and their farm near Browerville, Minn., exemplifies that. This is especially true one day each year in September, when the Katterhagen farm becomes a classroom for dozens of sixth graders in Todd County.

Mary Williams, Todd-Wadena’s member services representative, leads a group of sixth graders in a game that shows how to use energy wisely in the home.

One station is staffed by Todd-Wadena Electric Cooperative, one of Great River Energy’s member co-ops.. At this year’s event, Todd-Wadena employees Mary Williams and Tim Pavek engaged students in a game that revealed efficient lifestyle choices in each of several common scenarios. For example, they were asked, “Which appliance uses less electricity to cool the home, an air conditioner or a heat pump?”

Flipping a switch the correct way (heat pump) lit up a bright red bulb – a compact fluorescent, of course. Students were rewarded for their participation with a coupon for a free Blizzard^®, compliments of Dairy Queen.

The Katterhagens have been hosting Conservation Days at their farm for the past 17 years, helping to educate more than 4,000 students.

Great River Energy employees got a first-hand look at the flood damage in Minot, N.D., while volunteering to help restore a dwelling that recently housed four Minot families.

En route to Minot, employees passed through areas surrounding the Souris River to find deserted neighborhoods, dirt dikes being hauled away and homes wearing water level marks on the exterior.

The volunteers demolished the interior of a fourplex and prepared it to be cleaned and rebuilt. After two days of hard work, the interior demolition was complete and the building was ready for a high-pressure sanitizing cleaning. The building is expected to be completed before the snow falls and provide shelter for four families.

We coordinated the volunteer event with All Hands Volunteers, a nonprofit organization that provides hands-on assistance to survivors of natural disasters around the world.

The disastrous flood damaged more than 4,000 homes as well as businesses, schools, churches and other community buildings leaving more than 11,000 people homeless.

The Jay A. York Scholarship was established in recognition of the first Minnesotan to head the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA). Jay York was a prominent figure in rural electric cooperative issues for nearly 30 years. He was elected in 1964 to the Nobles Cooperative Electric board. Mr. York was not only well-known for his great leadership ability but also great dignity, a disarming understanding of the issues, and an unyielding dedication to his fellow rural Americans.

This year eleven cooperatives participated in the scholarship in honor of Jay. They were: Dakota Electric Association, East Central Energy, East River Electric Power Co-op, Federated Rural Electric Association, Nobles Cooperative Electric, People’s Cooperative Services, Redwood Electric Cooperative, Renville-Sibley Cooperative Power Association, Sioux Valley Energy, Steele-Waseca Cooperative Electric, and Wright-Hennepin Cooperative Electric Association. From these eleven cooperatives, four winners were randomly selected. They were Clint Birtzer (Dakota Electric), Erik Chouinard (East Central), Kyle DeLay (East River), and Zachary Leebens (Nobles).

Clint Birtzer took advantage of the Post Secondary Enrollment Options (PSEO) program at Inver Hills Community College during his junior and senior years in high school. He is attending his last year at Inver Hills and next year will transfer to the University of Minnesota to study Journalism. Along with writing, Clint enjoys music and plays his guitar in a Bluegrass band. He is the 2009 and 2011 Minnesota State Flat-picking Guitar Champion.

Erik Chouinard is a 2010 graduate of North Branch Area High School. He attended his first year of college at Itasca Community College where he participated in football and made the Dean’s list. This year Erik will graduate with a two year Associate of Arts degree from Anoka Ramsey Community College. His plans are to continue his education at Minnesota State University.

Kyle DeLay is a 2011 graduate of Beresford High School. His future plans include attending the University of South Dakota to eventually become a dentist or doctor.

Zachary Leebens graduated from Murray County Central High School in May 2011. He is studying criminal justice with an emphasis on forensic science at the Colorado Technical University in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

Each winner receives a $300 scholarship that is made available from the participating cooperatives.