For Immediate Release: October 10, 2018

Tucson, Ariz. – Thirteen charitable organizations from Tucson and the Springerville area will receive a total of $135,000 in Community Impact Grants this month from Tucson Electric Power (TEP) to improve the quality of life in their communities.

TEP awarded the grants to nonprofit organizations that are working to improve childhood education; protect and conserve the environment; and meet the basic needs of limited-income and underserved residents.

The grants are just part of more than $1.5 million that TEP contributes to local charities each year. All of TEP’s contributions are funded from corporate resources, not customers’ rates. The company’s contributions to the community also include a robust employee volunteer program and in-kind donations of equipment and services.

“TEP’s Community Impact Grants help strengthen and improve the communities we serve in many ways,” said David G. Hutchens, TEP’s President and CEO. “For example, some of the programs we are supporting this year provide safe shelters for the homeless, deliver meals to homebound seniors, promote literacy and reading to children and allow students to participate in STEM and environmental educational opportunities.”

This year’s TEP Community Impact Grant recipients are listed below, along with the grant amount and description of how the funding will be used.

Tucson Area

Our Family Services, $30,000, to support its New Beginnings program, which will help more than 700 youth and families escape homelessness and establish housing stability this year. Funding will be used to cover security deposits, utility fees, transportation, food, clothing, household goods and food for families transitioning to permanent housing.

GAP Ministries, $26,250, to leverage its purchase of deeply discounted goods from retailers. Vouchers are provided to nonprofit redistribution partners who then distribute them to limited-income families who use them to shop for much-needed products and supplies at GAP Ministries’ warehouse.

Mobile Meals of Tucson, $15,000, to provide homebound and isolated seniors and adults with disabilities with ongoing meals and nutritional support to help manage their chronic illnesses, reduce complications and hospital admissions and improve their overall health.

Tucson Clean & Beautiful, $14,000, to fund its new Youth Environmental Leadership Program, which will allow middle and high school students interested in environmental projects to become involved in meaningful hands-on projects that focus on land use and natural resources, water quality and watershed protection.

Act One, $10,000, to fund school trips to performing and visual arts events for economically-disadvantaged students in Pima County who otherwise would be unable to experience the arts as part of their education.

Boys & Girls Clubs of Tucson, $10,000, to support its Power Hour program, which provides structured time for staff and volunteers to help youth complete their homework and offers one-on-one tutoring for those who need extra help.

Make Way for Books, $10,000, to fund its Story Project, which ensures 5,700 children have books and are encouraged to read to promote literacy. Literacy specialists work with economically-disadvantaged preschoolers, school age children, teachers and families during the school year to help ensure their academic success.

Soar with the Eagles, $5,000, to provide affordable individualized tutoring to adults who did not finish high school and are struggling in low-paying jobs. Tutors seek to help participants earn their General Education Degree (GED) and improve their future. Soar with the Eagles hopes to reverse the declining GED graduation rate and raise the level of adult education and socioeconomic status of residents in Tucson.

Tucson Wildlife Center, $4,750, for the purchase of temporary holding pens for rehabilitated wildlife, such as wildcats, hawks, coyotes, javelinas and owls, where they are kept until they are ready to be released into the wild. The Tucson Wildlife Center captures, transports, treats and cares for injured or abandoned wildlife and then releases them upon rehabilitation or maturity. The center is supported by volunteer veterinarians, the Arizona Game and Fish Department and the University of Arizona to provide its services, all of which are free to the public.

Springerville Area

Boys & Girls Club of Round Valley, $3,150, to fund field trips to the Biosphere and Lowell Observatory for youth participating in this area’s only after-school program. Many families in this small, isolated community are at or below the federal poverty level. TEP’s grant will allow students from kindergarten to high school to be exposed to STEM educational opportunities and careers.

White Mountain Regional Medical Center, $3,150, to offer weekly diabetes self-management workshops for six weeks to people with Type 2 diabetes. The free workshops will help up to 16 individuals learn how to better manage the disease and its symptoms through awareness, exercise, diet and medication management. The goal of the workshops is to reduce the number of people seeing emergent or in-patient treatment associated with complications resulting from poorly managed self-care of the disease.

New Covenant Church Food Bank, $2,500, for the purchase of food to distribute to struggling and hungry residents and families in the community.

Eagar Firefighters, $1,200, for the purchase of smoke detectors to distribute to area families to keep them safe from house fires.

Eligible nonprofits were invited earlier this year to submit their proposals for Community Impact Grants, which were then evaluated in a competitive review process. Grants were awarded based on the program effectiveness and sustainability, organizational strength, financial stability and other criteria.

TEP provides safe, reliable and affordable electric service to approximately 424,000 customers in Southern Arizona. For more information about TEP, visit tep.com. TEP and its parent company, UNS Energy, are subsidiaries of Fortis, Inc., which owns utilities that serve more than 3 million customers in Canada, the United States and the Caribbean. To learn more, visit fortisinc.com.


News Media Contact
Sherri Cadeaux
(520) 884-3923
scadeaux@tep.com

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