CEO Karen Moore

Thirty-one years ago, a sister co-op, Palmetto Electric Cooperative in South Carolina, developed a program that would grow into one of the most impactful chapters in the history of electric cooperatives. It would come to be known as Operation Round Up. In 2004, it made its way to Baldwin EMC.

In June, Baldwin EMC’s Operation Round Up program surpassed a major milestone: $5 million in grant distributions to our local community. That’s $5 million worth of assistance supporting needs such as healthcare, education, housing, clothing, food and the environment.

To put it simply, that’s $5 million worth of lives changed for the better in our area.

Not one penny of that would have been possible without your support.

Every month, you helped fund Operation Round Up just by letting us round your electric bill up to the nearest dollar amount. Even though your donation never amounted to more than 99 cents per month – less than what you’d put in a vending machine for a snack – it added up to make big things happen in the community.

Beyond just the extra change though, you gave this program something equally valuable. You gave your trust. For 16 years, you’ve trusted The Baldwin Electric Membership Charitable Foundation Board, which oversees Operation Round Up, to make the right decisions about where and how to distribute your donations into the community. And I can tell you, as an eyewitness to the grant approval process, this has never been an easy task. Month after month, and at times more frequently, the Foundation board sorts through numerous applications, determining how to make the dollars you’ve entrusted to them have the biggest impact.

In a perfect world, the Foundation could give a grant to every applicant. Then again, in a perfect world, programs like this wouldn’t need to exist in the first place.

Since our world is far from perfect, it’s a good thing Operation Round Up is in place to help those in need, and it’s an even better thing that people like you support it.

While we can calculate how many dollars have been granted through Operation Round Up, there’s no way for us to know the total number of lives that have been positively affected by this program. Your generosity has created a ripple effect that has spread across our area in immeasurable ways.

I hope you feel a sense of pride in knowing the role you play in making our area a better place. I hope you feel a sense of ownership in the good work Operation Round Up does. I hope you feel a renewed commitment to investing