Cable One® recently awarded $125,000 in grants to nonprofit organizations in need across its 24-state footprint through the company’s Charitable Giving Fund.
The Charitable Giving Fund, which annually awards $250,000 in grants to 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations in communities served by the Cable One family of brands (Sparklight®, Fidelity Communications, Hargray, ValuNet Fiber and CableAmerica), concentrates support in the following priority areas:
- Education and Digital Literacy
- Food Insecurity
- Community Development
“We are committed to helping strengthen the cities and towns where we live and work by giving back to the organizations that do so much to support our communities,” said Julie Laulis, Cable One President and CEO. “While our grant recipients are all working to meet different needs, their underlying goals align with Cable One’s core values of lending a hand and doing right by those we serve. We are honored to contribute to these organizations’ efforts.”
Twenty-five nonprofit organizations received grants during Cable One’s most recent award period, including Valley Community & Senior Center in Clarkston, Washington and Fargo-Moorhead Rotary Foundation in Fargo, North Dakota.
The Valley Community & Senior Center offers low-cost meals, frozen meals, home delivery meals, health care services, beauty and barber shop services and a full range of social activities for adults over 21 in the Lewis-Clark Valley area of Washington State.
“We provide more than 40,000 seniors, low-income adults, families, and veterans with on-site and in-home meals annually,” said Valley Community Center’s Robert Burton. “The Sparklight funding will help us continue to provide this service for vulnerable residents in our community.”
Fargo-Moorhead Rotary Foundation will use the grant to help build a natural playground along the Red River that will allow children to immerse themselves in nature year-round. An aesthetically beautiful addition to the community, this all-season play area will use boulders, trees, shrubs, logs, rocks, nets and other natural elements to provide children with physically challenging, unstructured play opportunities that will challenge and develop every part of their minds, bodies and spirits.
“This Sparklight grant will be used for the construction of an outdoor play area intended to help children reap the mental and physical health benefits of unstructured free play,” said Board Member and Project Chair Heather Ranck. “Children, particularly children from lower-income families, increasingly do not have access to the unstructured free play that develops their creativity, social skills and resilience, and this grant will help us address that. Sparklight’s grant is critical in bringing the dream of a high-impact play area to life. Thank you for your significant support of this project!”
Nonprofit organizations may apply for a grant during open application periods each spring and fall. Applications for fall 2023 grants will be accepted between October 1-31, 2023.
The Charitable Giving Fund is an extension of Cable One’s existing corporate social responsibility efforts, which include:
- Supporting national organizations dedicated to advancing education and diversity, including the Emma Bowen Foundation and the National Diversity Council.
- Supporting the mission of Special Olympics, which provides year-round sports training and athletic competition in a variety of Olympic-type sports, as well as health, arts, leadership, and advocacy programs for children and adults with intellectual disabilities.
- Planting trees through the Arbor Day Foundation on behalf of customers who switch to paperless billing. Since 2015, the company has planted 130,000 trees in its markets and national forests within the company’s footprint.
- Supporting the mission of Keep America Beautiful in cleaning up and beautifying communities across the U.S.
- Raising funds for Feed My Starving Children to make a difference in the lives of hungry kids around the world. Since 2018, Cable One has donated more than 46 tons of food to local food banks and nearly $400,000 to address food insecurity.
For more information about the Cable One Charitable Giving Fund, please visit www.sparklight.com/charitablegiving.