Versant Power invested over $440,000 in local communities in 2022
Tuesday, January 3, 2023
Bangor and Presque Isle, Maine – Versant Power was pleased to invest over $440,000 in 2022 in the communities where we live and work. Through our community investment program, we supported a broad range of needs while focusing major gifts to help address specific hurdles that non-profit organizations in our service area are working to overcome.
“Our approach to community giving begins with interviewing groups in our service territory to identify their specific needs,” said John Flynn, Versant Power President, “From there, a committee of employees have thoughtful conversations and choose which initiatives we contribute to.”
In 2022, the employee committee chose to donate to Good Shepherd Food Bank to combat hunger in our community. Additionally, Versant presented a check for a multi-year commitment to the Northern Light Acadia for All campaign. This gift supports the Acadia CARES and RACES programs, which highlight crucial youth mental health and wellness issues, including eating disorders, suicide prevention, bullying, anxiety, sexual identity, substance use, and resiliency.
At year end, Aroostook County Action Program, Penquis and Downeast Community Partners received funds totaling $60,000 for their heating assistance programs. In addition to this funding, Versant Power has committed $200,000 in matching funds to the three agencies through Power Match, a program that will provide electricity bill credits to individuals in need. An additional $60,000 was also contributed as a seed fund.
“Sponsoring over 50 programs and events this year has given us the opportunity to get back out into the community,” said Flynn. ”It has also allowed us to continue to be involved in the many areas we’re passionate about as a company, including environmental sustainability, education and economic development.”
Versant Power continued to sponsor community fairs and festivals including the Crown of Maine Balloon Festival and the Katahdin Trails End Festival as well as traditional holiday light parades. A team of Versant employees supported Big Brothers Big Sisters of Mid-Maine by pulling a plane at the Bangor International Airport, ran a road race to support St. Joseph’s Hospital, and even paraded their pets around Husson University for the Bangor Humane Society’s annual Paws on Parade.
The company supported A Climate to Thrive in efforts to encourage people to use power more efficiently and continued to support the University of Maine’s engineering department with a gift to sponsor a new power engineering faculty position. We also continued to support programming at the Versant Power Astronomy Center and UMaine Athletics.
Versant Power’s community investment program includes charitable gifts to nonprofit organizations as well as sponsorship of local programs and events. To learn more about Versant’s community investment program, please visit versantpower.com/community.