White River Electric donates $10,000 to Meeker Education Foundation

MEEKER | White River Electric Association (WREA) declares its primary purpose is to provide its members with safe, reliable power at the lowest cost possible; but according to board president Bill Jordan, “We strive to go beyond that and to be a valued member of our community.”
WREA’s commitment to the Meeker community has been historically consistent and often subtle, with donations to a variety of worthy groups and projects. This summer, WREA found innovative ways to respond to the Meeker Education Foundation’s fundraising campaign for grant requests made by the district’s teachers.
“Over the last few years we have challenged our staff to maintain our standards of excellence, but do it on a more conservative budget,” Jordan said. “This $10,000 donation to the Meeker Education Foundation, which is earmarked for specific projects, is a great example of how the staff exceeded our expectations.”
WREA utilized unclaimed capital credit funds and pursued matching funds from Basin Electric Power Cooperative to purchase ninth grade physical science textbooks for Meeker High School (MHS), buy materials for the Barone Middle School’s new science and tech lab, purchase ceramic supplies for the MHS art program and materials for the life science department.
“We basically asked them to do more with less and they have,” he said, crediting WREA’s staff with always looking out for ways to what is best for WREA and its community.
At last week’s WREA annual meeting Jordan explained that the board annually pays out capital credits to the members. This year the board retired and paid out capital credits for 1997 and 1998 in the amount of $1.2 million dollars. Unclaimed capital checks go into the unclaimed capital credit account. If not utilized, these unclaimed funds could escheat to the State of Colorado after a period of time, so WREA utilizes eligible unclaimed capital credit funds to support its scholarship program and specific education related donations. Jordan stated that the unclaimed capital credit fund is not huge and must be managed wisely. In this instance, $5,000 was used from the fund and the balance was received from the Basin Electric matching grant program. “We are fortunate and thrilled to be able to utilize these funds to support Meeker’s great teachers and kids,” Jordan said.