Mountain View Power has given $70,000 worth of profits to the Olds Institute For Community and Regional Development to fund the institute's various community activities.
Mountain View Power is a fully-owned subsidiary of the institute whose objective is to fund the institute and the various activities it supports. While the institute has yet to draft a budget for 2014, the money is welcome by the organization, said Mitch Thomson, interim executive director of the institute.
“The funds have been allocated to the institute and the institute is still finalizing its budget for next year but those dollars are definitely being transferred,” he said, noting the institute welcomes the chance to sponsor various community events such as the community registration night that happens each year in the autumn. The hope is to add a community registration night in the summer, Thompson added.
The institute wants to also engage various groups in the community to see how it might be able to help them. The funds will also be used to further investigate the findings of the genuine wealth report that was completed earlier this year and how the institute might be able to advance some of the objectives that came from the report. The genuine wealth report was completed by Mark Anielski and looked at a myriad of social factors and how those factors impact the quality of life in the community.
“We're going to be doing some social asset mapping as another avenue in which we can help support the programs that are in the community. The funds that come from Mountain View Power will also be used to look at those findings and how we can make the community just that much a better place for people to live and work and play, ” Thompson said.
Mountain View Power buys power on the open market and resells it to customers. It then turns over the profit it makes to the institute.
