TVA, Athens Utilities help em-‘power’ nonprofits in Athens and Limestone County

ATHENS — The Tennessee Valley Authority and Athens Utilities provide the power to Limestone County residents and businesses through their electrical systems.

And, the two agencies help empower local nonprofits to meet needs in Athens and Limestone County, be they arts, education, housing or others, through TVA Cares.

Projects supported by TVA Cares touch areas of the community from providing prescribed medication to the uninsured or underinsured to providing laptops for students entering college to hosting free community events. The projects also address literacy, hunger, access to the arts and providing students with sensory issues a place to take a break.

This is the fourth round of TVA Cares funding. The first was 2020 when TVA partnered with local power companies such as Athens Utilities to provide funds to support local initiatives that addressed hardships created by the COVID-19 pandemic. The TVA Cares program has continued to provide ongoing support.

For this round, TVA allocated $33,000 and asked Athens Utilities to match it, which the Electric Department did from its marketing budget. TVA required recipients to have nonprofit status and a project that meets one or more of TVA’s core priorities.

TVA’s core priorities are:

• Education
• Workforce development/training
• Arts & culture
• Diversity and inclusion
• Community enrichment
• Disaster relief & emergency response
• Health, hunger & housing
• Innovation & technology

Mark Brown, TVA’s Community Relations Manager for the South Region – Alabama, Mayor Ronnie Marks, Athens Electric Department Manager Blair Davis and Limestone County Commission Chairman Collin Daly presented the checks to recipients.

“The Electric Department is experiencing the highest customer growth I’ve seen in my career with Utilities,” said Davis, adding the growth rate is 6%. “That means we have a growing community with more needs, and I appreciate TVA, Mayor Marks and our City Council for supporting our efforts to help these nonprofits.”

Marks said Athens is the fastest growing city in the state, and Limestone County is the fastest growing county. 

“Growth brings us more opportunities, and it also brings us challenges that our nonprofits dedicate their efforts to addressing,” Marks said. “The TVA Cares program not only provides financial support, it also highlights the good works that go on in our community every day.”

The recipients and their projects:

• Athens Arts League – $5,000
  Will fund three League projects: art supplies for art classes conducted at Blue Springs Elementary, including take-home art projects; an instructor for Tubano Thunder, a drumming circle program through the Boys & Girls Club; and Mardi Gras, a free community event that includes art for kids, live music, parade and food drive for the LCCI food bank.
• Athens City Schools Foundation – $5,000
  Will fund the Foundation’s Teacher Grant Program by providing classroom funds for special hands-on learning projects related to STEM, arts, health, sensory rooms for students with special needs, reading and teamwork. 
• Athens Fire & Rescue Auxiliary – $7,000
  Will fund Shop with a Firefighter where school counselors recommend students whose families need assistance at Christmas; students learn how to shop on a budget with a firefighter/community leader; spend $100 on toys, $100 on necessities; program helped 62 kids last year; this will fund 50. 
• Athens-Limestone Community Association – $3,500
  Will support year-long programs at the historic Trinity-Fort Henderson site that tells the story of slave to solider to student and other community programs; includes UBORA Black Excellence Music & Cultural Arts Festival, ACT prep for 7-12 grade and summer youth activities.
• Athens-Limestone Family Resource Center – $2,000
  Will promote youth literacy by helping fund FRC’s partnership with Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library to provide free books from age birth to five years; this will support 526 kids in Athens.
• Athens-Limestone Hospital Foundation – $7,000
  Will fund the Meds to Beds program, a collaboration between the Pharmaceutical Department and Be the Difference Task Force (hospital employees); will provide free/low-cost meds for un-insured/under-insured, ensuring patients are discharged with access to prescribed meds.
• Athens Main Street – $4,000
  Will support the Merchants Alley seasonal concerts in Downtown Athens and help pay for local musicians, giving them an opportunity to perform for the public; also provides free events for the community that promotes shopping/dining downtown.
• Boys & Girls Club of Athens – $6,500
  Will fund supplies and educational field trips for the SAIL summer program (Summer Adventures in Learning); will target reading/math intervention for 30 kids & enrichment activities for 60 kids; eight-week program that includes visit to Early Works Museum and author meet-and-greet events; each child will get backpack with learning materials for home.
• Calhoun Community College Foundation – $4,590
  Will fully fund a scholarship for a person from Limestone County to attend pre-apprentice lineman school at Calhoun, which will support furthering that person’s education and career and support a need for more linemen.
• Full Tummy – $4,000
  Will fund prepared meals for senior citizens at Athens Activity Center; these meals encourage seniors to attend and socialize, stay active and eat a regular meal with their peers, thereby contributing to their overall physical/mental wellbeing; the center will serve 726 meals/month.
• Hospice of Limestone County – $2,000
  Will support Hospice’s Camp Hope, a bereavement camp for kids; will help fund lunch, supplies for activities, workers’ T-shirts and marketing; the camp teaches kids how to deal with emotions and shows them they are not alone.
• Limestone County Churches Involved – $4,910
  Will fund needs for the community’s homeless and low-income population; includes personal hygiene packs, blankets, food items and utility bill assistance.
• Make A Way Foundation – $2,000
  Will purchase sensory tents for classrooms in city and county schools; these tents give students with sensory issues the chance to take a break in the classroom and become calm; will purchase between 25 and 30 tents to add to program.
• MTM Educational Enrichment – $5,000
  MTM provides scholarships to students who overcome a hardship to continue their education; will fund a laptop, printer and software for each recipient, funding about 17 students.
• Tie Foundation – $1,500
  Will support the Koats for Kids project to provide children in the Child Welfare Caseload at DHR a warm winter coat; program averages 61 kids among 32 families; referrals are made by social workers, and the kids pick out their coat on a designated day at Walmart; this supports kids who are placed with families who do not receive extra funds from DHR.
• United Way of Athens-Limestone – $2,000
  Will help fund an instructor and purchase teaching materials for ACT prep classes for local high school students; classes are taught by a state-certified teacher; if there are any excess funds, will allocate those to scholarships for potential students who cannot afford to attend college.