Roundup for Safety awards funds toward six safety projects

Flathead Electric Co-op’s Roundup for Safety Board on Feb. 8 awarded $34,356 in grant funds supporting six community safety projects. 

Fair-Mont-Egan School, established in 1967, sought support to replace its campus security and emergency communications systems. The school’s intercom and entrance door are both beyond repair. As a result, campus-wide communications and securing the school’s entrance are both intermittent and unsafe.  

Libby Connor presented on behalf of Fair-Mont-Egan, relaying to the board that when Montana Highway Patrol order an evacuation of the school’s playground due to an active threat in the area the school’s superintendent did not have a means of communicating that information to all of the staff. 

“In just the past two years, we’ve had a grizzly bear near campus, a mountain lion on campus, student injuries,power outages, weapons and drugs on campus, classrooms locked down, life-threatening wind chill warnings, and a building intruder,” Connor said. “During each event, some staff were not notified of the issue and necessary response protocols due to the unreliability of our current communication system.”

The Roundup for Safety Board noted the school district’s matching funds and in-house contributions to the project with approval and awarded $12,000 to improve safety at Fair-Mont-Egan. 

February grantees also include: 

• STEM for Flathead Valley Schools – Safety Glasses & Bike Pumps - $724 

• Bad Rock Volunteer Fire Department – Rescue Air Bags for Vehicle Stabilization - $4,500 

• Underwater Soldiers – Protective Diving Suits - $3,500 

• Community Foundation for a Better Bigfork – Automatic ADA Doors - $9,000 

• Kalispell Police Department – Winter Tactical Gear - $4,632 

Roundup for Safety funding comes from participating Flathead Electric Cooperatives members who allow their monthly electric bills to be rounded up to the nearest dollar. The program costs each member about $6 per year and has provided over $4.9 million in funding since 1997. To learn more, visit flatheadelectric.com/our-community/roundup-for-safety.