Todd-Wadena’s Electric Cooperative’s Operation Round Up program will be giving approximately $15,000 in grants this fall to local organizations for community service projects. Local organizations may apply for grants by contacting the Todd-Wadena Electric Cooperative office at 218-631-3120 or 800- 321-8932 or by downloading a copy www.toddwadena.coop/community. The application deadline is Sept. 15.

To qualify for an Operation Round Up grant, organizations must be nonprofi t entities, serving the Todd and Wadena County area. Projects should fall into one of the following categories: community service, economic development, education and youth, environment, emergency energy assistance or disaster relief. Contributions are not made to political or religious organizations, fund-raising dinners, raffles, capital fund campaigns, national fund drives, for advertising or to individuals.

The Operation Round Up program is made possible by the members of Todd-Wadena Electric Cooperative, who allow their monthly electric bills to be rounded up to the nearest dollar. The change is placed in the Todd-Wadena Community Trust account to help fund local service projects. The average individual contribution is less than fifty cents a month, yet together the members raise nearly $2,500 monthly. A volunteer board oversees the Operation Round Up program, reviews applications each spring and fall and selects the recipient projects.

Since the program began in 2001, more than $250,000 has been donated to help fund more than 320 service projects undertaken by local fire departments, senior centers, food shelves, Scouts, hospitals, humane societies and the like.