The first personal finance principle usually taught to young children is the power of spare change accumulated over time. After all, that is the underlying message in the tradition of the piggy bank. This principle is also evident in the OPD5 Round Up For Education initiative now entering its 13th year.
OPD5 officials visited both local high schools on Wednesday, January 13 to present more than $5,000 raised locally through this long-running fundraiser program.
Round Up For Education allows OPD5 customers to voluntarily round up the balance on their power bills to the nearest dollar each month. When they enroll in the Round Up, customers specify which high school they want their donations to benefit. The difference then becomes a donation to that school. All of the funds gathered through the program are presented annually to school administrators, to be used however they will best help their school programs.
Though the individual donations amount to only pennies, the accumulation can really add up. This year, a Round Up check in the amount of $3,655 was presented to Virgin Valley High School principal Steven Waite.
For this presentation Waite chose to include some of the actual recipients of the funds: the VVHS Theatre Department students. A portion of the money will help fund the activities of these young drama students and their backstage tech crew.
Also in attendance for the presentation was VVHS Theater teacher Wendy Killinger.
“Ms. Killinger has been a very ambitious with our theatre program,” Waite said. “The students are very active. They have opportunities to attend regional set- and prop-building workshops, instruction sessions on applying theatrical make-up, and even theatre festivals where students from all over the region come and perform a play for judges. The program is doing well, and there is always a need for funding.”
Waite expressed gratitude to community members who have opted to participate in the Round Up. “These funds are a help to programs like this,” he said. “We are immensely grateful to OPD5 for facilitating the initiative.”
At MVHS, a check was presented for $1,387 to principal Duane McMinn and assistant principal Mitch Ozaki.
“The Round Up program has been very beneficial to us over the years,” said Ozaki. “It has helped fill little budget holes for programs that really needed the help.”
In the past, Round Up funds have been used for things like replacing aging Chromebooks, propping up various athletics programs and many other important educational items, Ozaki said.
“We have been free to use those funds wherever they are needed the most,” Ozaki said. “That has been a big help. So we appreciate our community members for opting in to it.”
OPD5 public outreach coordinator Kristi Eames said that OPD5 is happy to facilitate the Round Up. “We are proud to be of service to our local schools in this way,” she said. “It really is an easy and painless way for local residents to pitch in and make a difference for school programs that are important to our kids. It is just good all-around.”
Signing up to participate in Round Up for Education is easy. OPD5 customers can enroll just by calling the OPD5 office at (702) 397-2512 in Overton, or (702) 346-5710 in Mesquite. Or they can stop by their local district office in person to sign up.