November 2019 Community Giveback
Our third quarterly Community Giveback event, held at our corporate headquarters, featured 18 different organizations serving our Black Hills community in important and crucial ways. Both our local utility and the Black Hills Corporation Foundation have been making grants to worthwhile nonprofit organizations throughout our history, this is the third time we have hosted a collective recognition event in honor of you, our community partners.
On Nov. 1, we presented over $460,000 in gifts to these worthwhile organizations.
Watch the event
Watch the presentation and follow the Black Hills Energy Facebook page and Twitter account to see more of our community involvement.
Photos available
Pictures from the event are available to download and share. Please feel free to utilize the photos on your platforms. Sharing on social media? Make sure to tag us on Facebook @BlackHillsEnergy, Instagram @bhenergy, Twitter @bhenergy and don't forget to add the hashtag #CommunityGiveback!
United Way
Black Hills Energy was among the first supporters of United Way back when a group of business leaders started the United Way in Rapid City in the 1940’s. For many years, Black Hills Energy has been the largest corporate supporter of the annual United Way campaign, with employee pledges matched 25% by our corporate Foundation. United Way is part of our company’s DNA. There is tremendous support from the top of the organization and for as long as anyone can remember, the company has offered employees a Fair Share Day – if they pledge one hour’s pay a month, they get an extra day of paid time off.
This year, the volunteer employee team that led the United Way campaign in South Dakota well-exceeded their goal. All together, they raised over $293,000 for the United Way agencies serving the Black Hills area, including Sturgis, Northern Hills and Southern Hills. Their efforts are part of a broader effort that will raise close to three-quarters of a million dollars to support 50 United Way agencies across our footprint this year alone.
Click here to download photos.
Super Dogs for Super Heroes
Super Dogs for Super Heroes has been matching service dogs with military veterans since 2017. These dogs are trained to assist the veteran with the transition to a prosthesis, retrieve and carry objects, as well as provide emotional support that a companion offers.
Click here to download photos.
American Red Cross
The American Red Cross has had a presence in South Dakota since 1917. In Western SD, American Red Cross focuses on disaster response services and services to armed forces and their families. They have responded to flooding in Custer and Pine Ridge, as well as to victims of home fires, providing temporary accommodations and resources to get families back on their feet. They also assist with installing smoke alarms in homes throughout their communities.
Click here to download photos.
Love Inc.
When Love Inc. flourishes in a community, healthy relationships grow, love thrives and struggling neighbors receive support, friendship and the kind of practical help they need. After 16 years of operations, Love Inc. of the Black Hills is moving into a centralized ministry center in the former Granite Buick Building on Omaha Street. After the building purchase, the 50-year-old building needed extensive upgrades to be functional and meet building codes. Their new site on Omaha Street consolidates several functions into one central location, providing clients increased access to resources, improved privacy for volunteers and clients, as well as operational efficiencies.
Click here to download photos.
Ladies Patriot Baseball
The Lady Patriot Softball Club provides girls in grades 7-12 the opportunity to learn the valuable life lessons that softball has to offer. The team consists of girls from Douglas School District, St. Thomas More, and New Underwood. South Dakota is one of only two states where softball is not a high school athletic sanctioned sport, and the schools involved are all smaller in nature, directly affecting the team’s means of fundraising.
Click here to download photos.
Youth and Family Service
A long-time partner of Black Hills Energy, Youth & Family Services works to close the opportunity gap for poverty-stricken children and young people in western South Dakota.
YFS is in the process of expanding their campus located on East Adams Street, which will add over 67,000 sq. feet of program space and over 32,000 sq. feet of playground and outdoor learning space. This expansion will ultimately benefit working families and their children, promoting a healthier and more productive environment.
Click here to download photos.
Minneluzahan Senior Center
Minneluzahan Senior Center has provided services to over 50,000 seniors in the Rapid City Area, including, but are not limited to, daily nutritional meals, exercise classes, card tournaments, monthly dinners, dances, bingo, seminars, classes and meetings. The senior center runs solely on electricity and seeks to improve some aspects of its functionality, so they are in the process of updating to LED bulbs. With the organization’s prioritization of energy efficiency, it seems only appropriate that Black Hills Energy lends support in this effort.
Click here to download photos.
Central High School
The Central High School Environmental Club is newly established and assists with maintaining and improving recycling programs to Central High School. Through outreach, the Club helps student learn what they can do in their school and community to be environmentally friendly while also fostering student purpose and inclusion.
Click here to download photos.
Stevens Showstoppers
The mission of the Stevens High School Showstoppers is to provide every student a place where they feel accepted for who they are. In addition, they want to be leaders in creating and maintaining a culture of safety and acceptance at Stevens High School and the rest of the community. There are endless opportunities available for students through the Stevens drama department, some including acting, directing, costume design and construction, stage-management, lighting, and marketing.
Click here to download photos.
Adult Day Center
Since last fall, The Adult Day Center of the Black Hills have serviced the respite needs of elderly and persons with disabilities. The center provides a program of educational, recreational, social, and physical activities based on the individual needs of the guests, creating a healthy, safe environment supported by professionals and caretakers.
Click here to download photos.
Oglala Lakota College
Oglala Lakota College serves students both on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and here in Rapid City. They stand ready to meet the education challenges of the 21st century and continue to assume a vital role in the development of the reservation’s resources, its people, and the land.
In keeping with this, Black Hills Energy will provide Oglala Lakota College with the installation of a Smart (Zoom) classroom at the institution’s He Sapa College Center in Rapid City, SD. The center serves about 400 students a year, and will allow the opportunity to upgrade services to the students as well as utilize adjunct instructors in needed degree areas by connecting to students on the Pine Ridge and Cheyenne River Reservations.
Click here to download photos.
Destination Rapid City
Since 2010, Main Street Square and Downtown Rapid City have worked diligently to keep a 50-block downtown radius, sidewalks and alleyways clean and inviting. They utilize a Kubota to haul the water tank that assists in the daily watering of the downtown hanging flowers and planters, to pick up and remove large litter (like beds, chairs, pallets) and to emptying 65 garbage and recycling bins, as well as to move equipment for Main Street Square events, clean and monitor Memorial Park and the Promenade, and remove snow at the Square and downtown sidewalks.
Click here to download photos.
Mt. Rushmore Road Group
Formed in 2005, the Mt. Rushmore Rd. Group researches and develops improvements and infrastructure to address pedestrian and vehicular safety to meet expected traffic and development demands and to develop street-scape and landscape improvements that address safety, drainage and aesthetics along the Mt. Rushmore Rd. corridor. This winter, the organization plans to “light up for Holidays,” in which 37 light poles will be adorned with lit holiday poinsettias.
Click here to download photos.
FUSE Rapid City
FUSE Rapid City is the Leadership Rapid City Class of 2018’s Vision project. FUSE is a new organization focused on cultural diversity. Its mission is to raise awareness of different cultures, celebrate diverse cultures and educate our community about the cultures that impact and benefit the place we call home, Rapid City.
FUSE plans to host an annual event to raise funds to award a culture-focused organization with a gift to support their efforts in improving the community. Black Hills Energy will sponsor FUSE’s first annual event next spring to demonstrate our shared outlook and support of their intentions.
Click here to download photos.
Vision Piedmont
Vision Piedmont started as a conversation about the future of the community of Piedmont, through which they learned that residents were craving a deeper sense of community. Those conversations resulted in the organization of first economic development organization for the town. Vision Piedmont will take part in the Marketing Hometown America program of the SDSU Extension program, in the order to allow Piedmont residents to share their voices and ideas to develop community branding, to plan and complete the first phases of Main Street revitalization, to hose community gatherings, and to improve signage and lighting.
Click here to download photos.
General Beadle School
For 9 years, General Beadle and Black Hills Energy have worked together to not only provide their 500 students with learning opportunities through the Character Counts program, but also financial support so that every students receives a Christmas gift.
Click here to download photos.
WAVI
Project PlaySAFE stands for Proactive Leadership Advocating a Youth-centered Safe and Fun Environment. This is the Leadership Rapid City Class of 2017’s class project that, through its partnership with Working Against Violence, Inc. (WAVI) and other community allies, aims to build a secure and safe play area on site at WAVI for children and families that are in crisis situations.
The state-of-the-art and robust playset provides a safe and secure area to relieve stress and give a sense of normalcy for those who are being served at WAVI. This play area will help break down any barriers that may hinder that process to help relieve stress and will give them a sense of normalcy.