Operation Round Up tops $10 million

For years now, participants in Walton EMC’s Operation Round Up have been pooling their small change to make a big impact in our communities. This long-term generosity recently marked an important milestone, exceeding $10 million in donations.

“We’ve known this was coming for a while, so it’s been exciting to watch the total climb closer and closer to the $10 million mark,” said Walton EMC President and CEO Ron Marshall.

The timing of the achievement is ideal, he added. It comes just as the co-op celebrates its 90th anniversary.

“This program’s success is an expression of our cooperative’s core value of caring for the community,” Marshall said. “Year after year, our customer-owners have demonstrated the power of coming together for good. It’s a perfect example of our co-op’s commitment to improving the quality of life in our service area throughout the last nine decades.”

Operation Round Up launched in 1998 as a simple way for customer-owners to lend financial assistance to worthy causes within the community. More than 76,000 co-op members now participate by “rounding up” their monthly electric bill to the nearest dollar with the extra cents being collected in a special fund. Annual donations range from just 12 cents to a maximum $11.88 per participating member.

The donations are distributed as financial grants to nonprofit organizations, community projects and qualifying individuals within the co-op’s 10-county service area. More than a thousand grants have been awarded over 28 years.

Beyond sharing small change, co-op members also play an active role in determining where the funds are distributed. Grant applications are reviewed and approved by the Walton Electric Trust Board, a group of Walton EMC Board-appointed volunteers representing every district of the cooperative.

“One person’s pennies may not seem like a lot. But, when you put together the contributions of thousands of co-op members, it adds up to something pretty remarkable,” said Cindy Haddon, Trust board member. “Thank you to every fellow co-op member who has participated in this program.”

Walton EMC covers all administrative costs, ensuring that 100% of every donation goes back into the community.

PHOTO (above): Walton Electric Trust Board members Cindy Haddon, left, and Penny Warren, far right, present an Operation Round Up grant to Athens Area Diaper Bank representatives Kelsey Ripley, Erin Campbell and Shona Foster.

Learn more about Operation Round Up