Touchstone Energy Award Criteria and Application

Winner Announced for the 2008 Touchstone Energy Community Award

Beltrami Electric Cooperative has named Paul Bunyan Broadcasting’s “Radiothon to End Child Abuse” the winner of the local 2008 Touchstone Energy Community Award, announced co-op spokesperson Cindy Gannon. The recognition comes with a $500 cash award donated to a charity of choice and an engraved Touchstone Energy Community Award plaque signifying the organization’s commitment to community.

For the past 20 years, Paul Bunyan Broadcasting has sponsored the 24-hour Radiothon to End Child Abuse on the first Thursday and Friday in December, this year Dec. 4 and 5 at the Paul Bunyan Mall. The Radiothon raises funds for four local child abuse prevention councils:  Beltrami County Child Abuse Prevention Council, Clearwater County Child Abuse Prevention Council, Hubbard County Child Abuse Prevention Council and Cass County/Leech Lake Reservation Children’s Initiative, as well as a state organization, Prevent Child Abuse Minnesota. In 2007, the Radiothon raised $56,355. Since it began in 1989, The Paul Bunyan broadcasting Radiothon to End Child Abuse has raised $661,311. The money raised is used in these four counties to fund child abuse prevention programs that would otherwise not be possible.

The award recipient was announced Nov. 6 and will contend for the statewide Touchstone Energy Community Award with a prize amount of $1,000 donated to a charity of choice. The statewide award winner will be recognized at the Minnesota Rural Electric Association annual meeting in February 2009.

The Minnesota Touchstone Energy cooperatives are part of a national alliance of more than 600 rural electric cooperatives that adhere to the values of integrity, accountability, innovation and commitment to community.