Gulf Power Foundation Contributes Nearly $84,000 To Community Organizations

February 26, 2021

The Escambia County Public Schools Foundation is one of several local charitable or nonprofit organizations to receive grants from the Gulf Power Foundation during the fourth quarter of 2020. The Gulf Power Foundation distributed $83,950 to support communities throughout Northwest Florida.

“Even as we continue to work through this pandemic, Gulf Power’s mission will always remain to support our communities where we live and work, and our quarterly grants through the Gulf Power Foundation are one way we can help build strong and sustainable communities,” said Sandy Sims, executive director for the Gulf Power Foundation. “The Foundation’s goal is to improve the lives of Northwest Florida residents, and during times like we currently face, we are honored these grants can help our community.”

The Escambia County Public Schools Foundation grant will help with their mission of enhancing education in the future of Northwest Florida children.

“Our Foundation works with school leaders to determine how and where private-sector investment and volunteer involvement can have the greatest impact on student success,” said Kristie Kelly, executive director for the Escambia County Public Schools Foundation. “We are grateful for the partnership between our organizations.”
Helping more than 40,000 students, during the 2019-2020 school year the Escambia Foundation was able to share funding with 25 schools in the country – out of 58, distributing 14 collaborative grants of $89,287 and providing 21 teacher opportunity grants for a total of $18,953 – just to name a few.

The fourth quarter grant recipients for the Tregion are:

  • Central Gulf Coast CDF Freedom Schools – Freedom School Summer 2021 – Harambee! At Global Learning Academy: $7,500
  • Escambia County Public Schools Foundation: $25,000
  • Greater Pensacola Junior Golf Association – First Tee Gulf Coast: $1,500
  • Manna Food Bank – Manna’s Monthly Senior Program: $10,000
  • The Nature Conservancy – Rainwater Perdido River Preserve Stewardship: $15,000
  • Pace Center for Girls – Girls Earning Diplomas: $5,000
  • United for a Good Cause – Hope Squad to Peer Suicide Prevention Program for Schools: $5,000
  • UWF Foundation – Monitoring Gopher Tortoise Abundance, Distribution and Burrow Activity: $9,950
  • Waterfront Rescus Mission – Homeless to Home-Working Homeless Program: $5,000

The Gulf Power Foundation has operated for 30 years as an independent 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization, partnering and investing in communities throughout Northwest Florida. The Foundation is one of the region’s largest corporate foundations, funded entirely through resources independent of Gulf Power’s customers.

Pictured: Teachers like Maren Leonard at Molino Park Elementary School will benefit for the Gulf Power Foundation’s grant to the Escambia County Schools Foundation. Photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.

Comments

5 Responses to “Gulf Power Foundation Contributes Nearly $84,000 To Community Organizations”

  1. jason on February 26th, 2021 11:13 am

    Raise rates. then donate that money. Gulf power is able to write that off as donations. So they are taking your money to donate and get the tax credit

  2. REALLY???? on February 26th, 2021 10:04 am

    @Lisa…Thank you for sharing where some of the money went. AND in the Feb. 23rd article….Gulf Power is asking for $206 million to help with recovery from Hurricane Sally. What happened to the FEMA MONEY and where did it end up?!?!?!?

  3. bob on February 26th, 2021 10:00 am

    How much will this increase my monthly bill?

    Why don’t we use the $84k to pay off the Hurricane Sally utility’s reserve fund and the Hurricane Michael recovery charges???

    That would save me $11.00 a month!!!

    Right now Gulf Power customers are paying $206 million for Hurricane Sally costs and you are giving money away. You are a power company that is responsible for generating power for customers, not a charity. Stick to your mission and stop giving money away that you do not have!!!

    Seems like FPL keeps spending money and our bills keep going up!!!

    FPL should be spending their dollars in the most effective and efficient manner possible as a fiduciary for each customer instead of giving it away.

    ===Previous comments regarding Solar Farms===

    How much will this increase my monthly bill?

    Why don’t we use the money for the solar farm to pay off the Hurricane Sally utility’s reserve fund and the Hurricane Michael recover charges???

    That would save me $11.00 a month!!!

    Right now Gulf Power customers are paying $206 million for Hurricane Sally costs and you are spending how much on a solar farm???

    Seems like FPL keeps spending money and our bills keep going up.

    FPL should be spending their dollars in the most effective and efficient manner possible as a fiduciary for each customer instead of trying to duplicate the New Green Deal!!!

  4. Lisa Fuller on February 26th, 2021 8:43 am

    The last 2 items in the grant recipient list sum up what’s wrong with our world: $5,000 to help homeless people find work and a place to live but $9,950 to monitor gopher tortoises. I love gopher tortoises but people are more important! Side note: as part of Gulf Power’s natural gas pipeline and now the solar panel farm, they had to insure the safe relocation of gopher tortoises in those construction areas. That seems like plenty of monitoring to me. I wonder how much money they’ve already spent on gopher tortoises, that could’ve been used to benefit homeless folks.

  5. Power Poor on February 26th, 2021 8:12 am

    I would have been able to contribute to charities but my power bill went up a lot.

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News