POWERGRAMS

COMMUNITY Thousands across Alabama assisted by ABC Trust Fund "For Alabama Power, it's not about the bottom line. They give back." That quote from Deanna Murphy, executive director of the Via Health, Fitness and Enrichment Center in Mobile, summarizes the company's intent when it started the Alabama Business Charitable Trust in 1992. The ABC Trust is designed to meet the energy needs of struggling Alabamians disadvantaged because of losing a job, having a disability or other crises. Help comes in the form of Emergency Energy and Cooling Programs that help pay energy bills. Home Forward grants weatherize homes and make them energy-efficient. Efficiency Forward grants provide weatherization and energy-efficiency measures to nonprofits with a health or human services emphasis. All of this is accomplished as the ABC Trust works through 22 community action agencies and the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs. Last year, the trust doled out 106 grants totaling $1.1 million and serving more than 3,600 families. The trust has given more than $30 million to 100,000 households since 1992. In Murphy's case, she was elated about two Efficiency Forward grants totaling $20,000 that brought new lighting to the gymnasium, fitness center and main hall of the 42,000-square-foot Via Senior Center. The multipurpose building is an exercise and socializing magnet for older adults, serving 20,000 members and users each year through 80 health, fitness and enrichment programs. But lighting problems had put a damper on activities at the popular gym. Traditional bulbs burned out at least once a year. Replacing them cost $500 each for the 16 fixtures, since a hydraulic lift platform had to be rented to reach the high ceiling. The Via center didn't have the money to regularly replace the bulbs; hence, the lights had gone out entirely over one of three gym courts used for the popular pickleball, involving a whiffle ball and paddle that Murphy calls "pingpong on steroids." Poor lighting in other areas of the gym made it hard for seniors to see while playing basketball, badminton, volleyball or other activities, including during tournaments. "We're a nonprofit and we just didn't have the money to keep replacing the bulbs," Murphy said, which caused more problems than on the pickleball court. "We rent our gymnasium to generate income to help fund our center, and we lost rentals due to poor lighting," she said. Some members quit coming because of dim lighting. Enter the ABC Trust, which provided $9,998 in 2018 for long-lasting LED lights in the gym, and $10,000 this past February for lighting in the fitness room and main hallway. "Our pickleballers are singing, shouting and hugging you," Murphy said about Alabama Power. In the spacious hallway, the new lights "provide a much more warm, fuzzy feeling that's bright and cheerful, and a much-added safety value to our seniors. "We're already seeing savings on our electric bill from both projects," she said. Melvin Justice of the east-central Alabama town of Piedmont talks in glowing terms about the Home Forward grant. He and wife, Patty, both disabled and with no income, had little heat in winter due to a faulty furnace and outside air-cooling unit. "We were using space heaters a majority of the time," which caused uneven heating and their power bill to skyrocket, he said. Justice said the furnace was original to the house, built in the 1970s. He replaced the cooling unit in the 1980s. "Our house was cold in winter and hot during summer and wasn't very well-insulated," he said. The Justices were beneficiaries of a new heat pump and weatherization project totaling $9,000 through a partnership between the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs and the Trust. "There wasn't a whole lot of insulation in the attic," Justice said. "But they put a whole lot up there. And it's helped." Power bills ranging from $400 to $500 in the winter, and $200 to $300 in the summer, now run less than $160 a month for the Justices. "We really appreciated it," he said. "It meant a whole lot because this house needed a lot of work done on it." By Gilbert Nicholson 13

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