ALLIANCE, Neb. - PREMA has pledged to donate $5,000 per year for the next five years, totaling $25,000 to the Western Nebraska Community College Powerline Construction & Maintenance program.
Ryan Reiber, PREMA general manager, presented the first $5,000 from PREMA and a matching $5,000 check from CoBank to Jennifer Reisig, WNCC foundation executive director and Shane Homan, WNCC Powerline instructor on Aug. 19. PREMA can reapply for the matching funds from CoBank each year to effectively double the donation.
"Matching grants are a powerful opportunity for community organizations to match their gifts and double the impact they have on our students and programs at WNCC," Reisig said. "We are so grateful to PREMA for their historical and ongoing support of the Powerline program with their gift and facilitation of the matching grant from CoBank. Thank you, Ryan, and the board of directors at PREMA.”
The donations will be used to purchase equipment for the Powerline program.
In June, the WCCA Board of Governors passed BP-306 - Equipment and Technology Replacement Funding, which allows the college to set an annual target funding level at three percent of the General Fund Budget for equipment and technology acquisition and replacement. Funding sources will include general fund, private gifts and bequests, corporate donations, grants, and year-end re-appropriation of unexpended General Fund Budget.
"Thanks to the WNCC Board and staff for seeing the need for better equipment at the Powerline program and other programs at the college," Reiber said. "It is important to our industry partners that WNCC has a sustainable plan for the acquisition and replacement of equipment and technology in our programs."
PREMA, and other rural and municipal electric partners in the Panhandle were integral in helping start the WNCC Powerline program in 2006. PREMA was also named the Friend of the College by the WNCC Foundation in 2019.
To learn more about how your gift to the WNCC Foundation can be doubled, please contact Jennifer Reisig, WNCC Foundation Director, at 308-630-6551.