For More Information Contact:
Joe Harwood, 341-1879
Eugene Water & Electric Board

May 27, 2009

EWEB awards $53,790 in grants to help local students

The Eugene Water & Electric Board has awarded 11 Partners in Education grants totaling $53,790 to Lane County nonprofit organizations with programs emphasizing energy and water education. Grant winners include:

• Partners for Sustainable Schools, $6,000, for the Cool School Challenge, a contest among Bethel, 4J and Springfield school districts to reduce carbon emissions at their schools.
• University of Oregon, $7,000, to help purchase 20 elliptical exercise machines for the Student Recreation Center that capture the kinetic energy created by users, convert it to electricity and then transfer it to the local power grid.
• McKenzie Watershed Council, $5,500, to help fund the Camp Creek Basin Study Project, where middle and high school students collect water quality data to map watershed conditions in an effort to improve water quality and fish and wildlife habitat.
• Camas Educational Network, $7,000, for the Community Stewardship Program, which teaches students in grades 5-12 about the importance of limiting their ecological footprint by conserving resources such as water.
• Science Factory Children’s Museum and Planetarium, $3,960, to help cover costs for four energy-focused summer camps in 2009, including a session on making solar-powered vehicles.
• Churchill High School, $7,450, to purchase parts and materials students will use to build an electric car. Students include those in the Rachel Carson Center for Natural Resources classes as well as students in robotics and technology classes.
• Nearby Nature, five grants totaling $16,880, to fund nature walks, classroom visits and summer day camp scholarships. The goal of the program is to help students become wise users of energy and water by learning how to keep rivers and streams clean and healthy.