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Day care receives $5,000 from a new energy fund
Foundation responds to nonprofits' needs to become better at energy efficiency
By Kate Carter
A Willow Glen day-care center is one of the three first recipients of Community Foundation Silicon Valley's new fund to help nonprofit organizations handle the energy crisis and economic downturn.
The foundation announced the kickoff of its Energy Crisis Response Fund on June 20, at Willow Glen's St. Elizabeth's Day Home child development center. The $100,000 fund was created when results of a survey showed area nonprofits are paying more for energy, with fewer donations coming in, while facing an increase in demand for services, said foundation President Peter Hero and United Way Silicon Valley President Greg Larson.
The online survey collected responses from 54 local nonprofits to questions about how much they are spending on energy costs, how they are conserving energy usage and how the local economic situation is affecting donations.
The Community Foundation and United Way reported the survey results showed an average increase in utility bills of 46 percent from March 2000 to March 2001. They also reported that the vast majority of the surveyed nonprofits are trying to lower their energy bills by reducing their use of lights, office equipment, and air conditioning and heating. Other energy conservation methods, such as installing efficient lighting and replacing appliances, were not as widely used, according to the survey.
The survey also showed a small reduction in the amount of donations the organizations received from this March to March of last year. The nonprofits reported great interest in getting financial help to make improvements in their facilities to conserve energy.
The fund is designed to help nonprofits reduce their energy bills so they can continue providing services, he said. St. Elizabeth's at 1544 McKinley Ave. will receive $5,000 for an energy audit and energy-efficient lights and room coolers. The San Juan Bautista Child Development Center and the San Jose Family Shelter also received $5,000 each for energy-efficient appliances.
A $25,000 donation from Santa Clara's National Semiconductor Corporation was the inaugural contribution to the new fund, Hero said. The fund is also supported by donations from the Skoll Community Fund, the Dennis and Stacey Barsema Foundation and an anonymous donor.
United Way is committing $100,000 of donations to energy-efficient improvements to its Silicon Valley Nonprofit Center that provides space to more than 50 nonprofit organizations.
"Like most nonprofits, we've had our utilities go very high over the last few months," St. Elizabeth's executive director Robert Freiri said. "It's been very difficult to absorb the costs, especially on such a tight budget."
Freiri told The Resident the center's February utility bill was three times higher than its bill last February. He said, because January was particularly cold this year, their heating use was higher, "but it wasn't triple higher."
Since then, Freiri said, the center's staff has reduced energy use and bills are less than 20 percent higher than normal. But they want to reduce their energy costs even more, and an energy audit will help them learn the most cost-effective ways of saving energy soon, he said.
"Especially this summer, we're all kind of cringing on what the energy costs are going to be," Freiri said.
St. Elizabeth's provides day care and child development programs to more than 200 children, ages 1 to 10, Freiri said. Most of its clients are working families, some of which have been referred by social service agencies, he said.
The center has a $2 million budget this year, he said, with most of its money coming from enrollment fees, agencies paying for low-income families, or donations, which provide scholarships to families who can't afford the center's fees.
"Because we have such a tight budget, needing things and having funds don't always match," Freiri said. "On the programmatic end, we try to be kind of cutting edge. This grant is one way for us to be innovative. It's an opportunity for us to take part in this so we can be on the forefront of a program and model it for others."
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Willow Glen, California Since 1992
