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Duke responds to storm damage with grants across region, $10,000 to Putnam County
TERRE HAUTE — The June 29 storm that tore through west-central region of Indiana left many counties with trees down, homes damaged and power lost. And just as Duke Energy began to work on widespread power outages, another storm came, then another and another.
For days on end, hundreds of thousands of Hoosiers remained in the dark, with Duke Energy trucks dispatched at all hours of the day.
“We’ve now determined that it was the most impactful storm in our modern (utilities’) history,” Duke Energy Indiana president Stan Pinegar said in a press conference, even after the residual storms of Hurricane Ike in 2008, he added.
Now, three weeks after the storms began, the Duke Energy Foundation is awarding $170,000 in grants to nonprofits across the state servicing areas devastated by the storms, rewarding community efforts that kept the storm damage at bay.
“When disaster strikes, nonprofit organizations play a vital role in helping families and communities get back on their feet,” Pinegar said in a press release. As sprawling damage often demands, it was all hands on deck across the region.
“We couldn’t have done this without a lot of the help from communities,” Pinegar said. “Your police departments, your sheriffs, your emergency response folks, were paramount to letting the work get done ... So, tremendous community effort. And we don’t take that lightly.”
Damage still lingers across Vigo, Vermillion, Clay and Putnam counties as park shelters, service centers and homes are being cleaned up. Non-profits in each county will be granted $10,000 from Duke Energy, as well as $30,000 to Monroe County and $50,000 to The American Red Cross of Indiana and Salvation Army Indiana Division who helped impacted families by opening cooling centers, distributing meals and helping cleanup efforts as hundreds of volunteers stepped up to help.
With the Putnam County Community Foundation set to be the fiscal agent for Putnam County’s grant, Greencastle Mayor Bill Dory was handed the check for $10,000.
“We will be using the funding to work with one of our local not-for-profits to replenish a fund that they have used to support low-income families that lost food in their refrigerators and freezers,” Mayor Bill Dory said. “We will also work with a couple other troops on some repair work that needs to take place after a storm,” such as Family Support Services’ after-storm fund, and the Greencastle township trustee to repair the Greencastle cemetary on Hanna Street. The funds will also be applied to places such as Big Walnut Sports Park and Robe-Ann Park, which Dory says are still in need of fallen tree removal and minor repairs. “And if there’s any money left, we’ll plant some additional trees.”
As far as other counties go, a check was presented to Brazil mayor Brian Wyndham representing Clay County Emergency Food Pantry, Clinton mayor Jack Gilfoy representing Rediscover Clinton, and Terre Haute mayor Duke Bennett representing the Terre Haute Parks Department.
“We appreciate the support of Duke Energy, and we appreciate all the crews that were out working in the community to get power restored, both in Greencastle and in other parts of the county as well,” Dory said.