News Releases

PPL Montana’s Community Fund will award a combined $100,000 in grants this spring to 15 nonprofit organizations across the state to support programs that help those in need, strengthen local communities and preserve the region’s rich heritage.

The new round of grants raises to more than $1.9 million the amount PPL Montana’s Community Fund has contributed to local organizations over the past nine years.

“At PPL Montana, we’re pleased to be able to give back in a way that strengthens the communities we call home,” said Lisa Perry, manager of Community Affairs for PPL Montana.

The Community Fund awards $100,000 in grants each spring and fall. Grants range from $1,000 to $10,000 and support programs that improve the quality of life in the state. Grant recipients are selected by an advisory board that includes 18 individuals from the company and local communities.

Recipients are chosen from among dozens of grant applications. This spring’s grant recipients are:

Belt Volunteer Ambulance Service, Belt, $9,200 – To educate and train new volunteers to be enrolled in the EMT program at Great Falls College, and to provide supplies and instructors for EMT refresher courses.

Garfield Elementary School, Miles City, $10,000 –  To provide a safe playground for all students regardless of gender, ability and needs. The school currently has a small playground that does not meet current safety or ADA standards and with this grant combined with the funds from three years of student fundraising, a new playground can be built.

Tina’s House, Deer Lodge, $2,000 – To provide energy efficiency improvements for a home serving battered women. An energy audit has shown that the house has very little insulation, so the agency will use this funding to completely reinsulate the house.

The Angel Fund, Helena, $3,000 – To help students with clothing, shoes, backpacks, classroom materials and other required school items. The Angel Fund was started by a retired school counselor who recognized the tremendous need among many students.

Great Falls Scottish Rite Childhood Language Disorders Clinic, Great Falls, $5,000 – To provide speech and language therapy to preschool children at no cost to the family. The Scottish Rite provides the space rent-free and contracts with speech pathologists.

Milk River Inc., Glasgow, $10,000 – To provide employment, day activities and training for 30 to 35 adult individuals with intellectual disabilities, age 19 to 70.  They work on job skills, life skills and community inclusion.

Madison County Library, Virginia City, $5,000 – To help pay for an addition, as well as a climate--controlled room for archives and historical treasures. This library is now on the top floor of the Thompson-Hickman building, built more than 80 years ago. This facility is overcrowded and needs to be brought up to code.

Treasure County 89ers Museum and Yucca Theatre, Hysham, $10,000 – To repair a historic building on Main Street, built in 1931, that is showing exterior and interior deterioration.  This building has a theater and stage inside, and is used weekly for movie showings as well as other community events.  It is a centerpiece of downtown Hysham.

Ruby Valley Pantry, Sheridan, $3,650 – To offer food assistance to individuals and families in need in southern Montana.  The pantry operates entirely with volunteers and private donations.  Much of this funding will be earmarked for holiday baskets.

World Museum of Mining, Butte, $5,000 – To preserve oral histories of miners, smelter men, and railroad workers that are housed in various forms of media, as well as to fund a “Teens in Training” program that would create an additional five to 10 oral histories with individuals who have firsthand knowledge of Butte’s history.

Denton Pool, Denton, $10,000 – To help repair a community pool built in 1962 to serve this small rural community of 301. The pool is leaking extensively.

Twin Bridges Senior Center, Twin Bridges, $7,000 – to build a new center to replace the Masonic Lodge, which has been deemed unsuitable for senior events due to structural and safety issues. This grant will be matched by the Community Development Block Grant program.

MonDak Heritage Center, Sidney, $5,000 – To help expand the center’s programs throughout the community. As the community is growing with the current oil boom, demand for the center’s services is increasing.

Southeastern Montana Development Center, Colstrip, $5,150 – To fund some much-needed renovations. This economic development agency serves many of the counties near PPL Montana’s Colstrip plant.

Yellowstone CASA, Billings, $10,000 – To provide training for Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) volunteers that help children removed from their homes navigate the court system. These volunteers serve as investigators, develop a thorough knowledge of the child’s situation and are able to recommend actions in the best interest of the child to attain a safe, permanent home.

PPL Montana provides safe, reliable energy from coal-fired power plants at Colstrip and Billings, as well as 11 hydroelectric plants along West Rosebud Creek and the Missouri, Madison, Clark Fork and Flathead rivers. It has a combined generating capacity of more than 1,200 megawatts and has offices in Billings, Butte and Helena. PPL Montana and its 500 employees are dedicated to Montana and its communities, supporting educational, environmental and economic development programs across the state. PPL EnergyPlus operates a trading floor in Butte that markets and sells power for PPL Montana in wholesale and retail energy markets throughout the western United States. PPL Montana and PPL EnergyPlus are subsidiaries of PPL Corporation (NYSE: PPL). More information about PPL Montana is available at www.pplmontana.com.