A Larger Purpose

Operation Round Up Funds Have a Wide Impact Across the Wiregrass

The members of Ashford High School’s track and field team know how to make do. They’ll brace on a chain link fence during stretches, practice jumps in a small sand pit, search out concrete areas for throwing, and run laps around the football field.

“These kids have done extremely well for not having any facilities whatsoever,” coach Brandon McCardle says.

The team recently received a grant from Wiregrass Electric Cooperative’s Operation Round Charitable Foundation, a cooperative program launched in 2015. Members voluntarily round up their monthly electric bills to the next dollar, and their small monthly contributions are combined and used for the much larger purpose of helping local people.

The foundation’s 9-member board of volunteers, who are also cooperative members, oversees how the money is used.

David Hall, the foundation board president, says there are some community organizations that rely on grants from programs like Operation Round Up to help the people they serve.

“It’s that important,” Hall says. “It’s a vital part now, I think, of a lot of these programs. Without this funding, they would not be able to function and certainly wouldn’t be able to get what they need to complete their task and their assignment and what they’re doing each and every day.”

ORU funds are used for community grants, scholarships, and to fund the monthly prize for the Silent Heroes of the Wiregrass program.

For the 2024-25 financial year, the most recent audited year, Operation Round Up received more than $118,000 in cash contributions and more than $61,000 from its annual golf tournament. The foundation board ensures that every penny goes directly back into the community through grants, scholarships, and emergency assistance.

Hall, who spent 34 years in law enforcement before retiring earlier this year, has seen how community programs can turn lives around for the better.

ORU funds have gone to help after-school programs for kids, library improvements, nonprofit organizations, and local food pantries. Grants have helped teachers equip classrooms and buy equipment for local fire departments.

Rachelle Ford, the ORU board’s secretary, says she’s learned so much about her community serving on the board. The Silent Heroes of the Wiregrass winners and how they help their communities have been particularly inspiring to her, Ford says.

“In a small town, you think you know everybody, but you don’t and you don’t realize what people do without trying to be recognized,” she says.

The foundation also provides emergency relief assistance up to $1,000 with approval by a committee made up of the foundation board’s officers. Such assistance might help a family whose home burned or someone who has to travel to Birmingham for cancer treatment.

Scholarships for traditional and nontraditional students, as well as those interested in becoming linemen, are also funded by Operation Round Up.

Requests for support actually exceeded the ORU funds available, which is why Wiregrass Electric Cooperative began sponsoring a golf tournament 4 years ago to collect additional donations, Hall says.

The needs, he says, within the Wiregrass are far greater than most people might imagine. The ORU board holds check presentations for public grant recipients, such as schools and nonprofit organizations. But, Hall says, that doesn’t represent the full number of recipients or requests received for help.

Hall says there have been several applications over the years that have profoundly touched him. 1 of the most meaningful ORU grant recipients for him is Freedom House, a faith-based recovery program located in Geneva County, helping individuals overcome drug and alcohol addictions.

“The Freedom House has been a recipient of numerous grants through Operation Round Up,” Hall says. “This program helps men and women to recover from addictions that affect every single person in some shape, form, or fashion within our Wiregrass area. I don’t know that there’s a hope for some without that faith-based program — not just that one but many others throughout the Wiregrass that do great things.”