The power of rounding up: Your change is changing lives

by General Manager Steve Stroshane

Happy holiday season from all of us at Polk-Burnett! Some call it the most wonderful time of the year. It's a time of giving, spreading joy and showing others that you care.

When you are a member of Polk-Burnett, you help us spread good throughout the year with your donations to Operation Round Up. Thank you for your generosity! Together with our Operation Round Up board, your support has stocked food shelves and library bookshelves, provided equipment for schools and fire departments, built community parks and gardens, and funded services for seniors, adults with disabilities and youth. Grants are awarded to nonprofits that improve our local quality of life.

Operation Round Up works like this

Funding for Operation Round Up is donated by local co-op members like you who volunteer to round up your monthly electric bill to the next even dollar amount.

For example, if your bill is $113.70, it will round up to $114 and your contribution for the month is 30¢. Your donation is tax-deductible and never goes above 99¢ per month; the average member donation is 50¢ per month or $6 per year. This may not sound like a lot, but when combined with thousands of others, it adds up to make a significant impact.

Since its beginning in 1998, Operation Round Up has given more than $1 million to local nonprofits. 2023 donations totaled $83,425 to 73 community programs and projects!

Thank you, Operation Round Up directors!

We are grateful for our Operation Round Up board of directors, past and present, who volunteer quarterly to review grant applications and award Round Up funds to nonprofits where it will do the greatest good. Directors are local members of Polk-Burnett Electric Cooperative and represent areas across the co-op's service territory.

Our current board directors L-R are: JoAnn Kipping, Spooner; Marlyn Bottolfson, Amery, Herschel Brown, Frederic; Gretchen Sampson, Osceola; Ed Peterson, Webster; Elvira Schmidt, Frederic; Kelly Bertuleit, Siren; and Julie Minell, Osceola. Not pictured: Gary Ganje, Clear Lake.

Top check presentation photo L-R: Operation Round Up directors Gary Ganje, Clear Lake, and Marlyn Bottolfson, Amery, presented $1,000 to employees of Golden Age Manor, a long-term care and rehab center in Amery.

To apply for a grant, visit our Operation Round Up webpage. To round up your bill, contact our office, 800-421-0283, ext. 335.