Continuing its program to strengthen communities, PPL Montana is giving $100,000 in Community Fund grant money this spring to 13 Montana organizations that provide programs ranging from energy conservation to services for children with learning disabilities.

“As a company that employs more than 500 Montanans, we’re always proud to support local programs that make our state a better place to live and work,” said Lisa Perry, manager of community affairs for PPL Montana. “Since the Community Fund began in 2005, we’ve awarded $900,000 to 145 Montana organizations that share our commitment to education, the environment and economic development.

“When we give money to groups like this, we know we’re touching people in towns across Montana,” she said. “It might be a student learning about the environment or our state’s history or a small community museum enhancing its service to visitors. Every dollar we contribute through our Community Fund improves the quality of life for all of us.”

The Community Fund received 125 applications for this spring’s grants.

An 18-member statewide advisory board, which includes civic and business leaders as well as PPL Montana employees, helps determine how best to distribute the funds.

“The board meets twice a year to select the grant recipients,” Perry said. “It’s always a challenge, because there are so many organizations in our state that support beneficial programs. Every application is carefully considered.”

PPL Montana will make another $100,000 in Community Fund grant awards this fall. The deadline for applications will be July 31. Applications are only accepted online. The application will be available beginning May 15 at www.pplmontana.com. Awards will be announced in October.

This spring’s PPL Montana Community Fund grant recipients are:

• Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts, Helena, $10,000 — To purchase an energy-efficient kiln to reduce natural gas consumption and help improve education in the ceramic arts by offering students access to new technologies.
   
• Billings Preservation Society, Billings, $10,000 — To purchase an energy-efficient boiler for the Moss Mansion Historic House Museum, a popular educational resource that tells the story of the early days of Billings through one of the city’s founding families.
   
• ExplorationWorks, Helena, $8,000 — To help underwrite the “Conservation Quest” exhibit, a traveling program that delivers energy conservation messages and helps families make thoughtful choices about energy use. The exhibit will include a solar water heater PPL funded in 2007.
   
• Friends of MontanaPBS, Great Falls, $10,000 — To contribute toward a transmitter that will enable Great Falls and Cascade County residents to access public television. More than 80,000 people will be reached by this signal. Funds raised will be matched by the Murdock Charitable Trust.
   
• Friends of Musselshell School, Musselshell, $5,000 — To support the third-floor renovation of this historic rural school and community center, including insulating the attic and ceilings to conserve energy.
   
• Greater Gallatin United Way, Bozeman, $9,000 — To expand kidsLINK, an after-school program that educates children about the importance of making healthy choices, to three additional schools.
   
• HANDS Inc., Great Falls, $6,600 — To fund summer field trips for 250 low-income children per year over a three-year period, reinforcing in them social and academic skills through visits to museums and other cultural sites.
   
• Havre Area Chamber of Commerce, Havre, $1,000 — To support Leadership High School, a program designed to nurture and enhance self-esteem and leadership and decision-making skills for 20 high school students a year.
   
• Makoshika Dinosaur Museum, Glendive, $5,100 — To help replace the roof on this eastern Montana museum and reopen part of it that had been closed because of damage caused by heavy snowfall in recent years. The museum is one of the 15 members of the Montana Dinosaur Trail.
   
• Montana Council, Boy Scouts of America, Billings, $10,000 — To rebuild the climbing tower at the council’s summer campground near Lewistown, one of the popular challenges of its outdoor course. The course provides opportunities for team-building activities and personal challenges.
   
• Montana Watershed Coordination Council, Bozeman, $5,300 — To support annual training for watershed coordinators from across the state to work on the state and local level to conserve, restore and protect watersheds.
   
• Paris Gibson Square Museum of Art, Great Falls, $10,000 — To support the museum’s After School Art Education program, which provides opportunities for children in Grades K-12 to build skills such as creative problem-solving, communications and cultural awareness.
   
• Scottish Rite Clinic, Billings, $10,000 — To help fund five scholarships for speech, occupational and physical therapy to children with learning disabilities. The grants will help families who are unable to pay for these services.

PPL has 500 employees in Montana who generate and sell electricity. PPL Montana operates coal-fired power plants at Colstrip and Billings, as well as 11 hydroelectric power plants along Rosebud Creek and the Missouri, Madison, Clark Fork and Flathead rivers. It has a combined generating capacity of about 1,200 megawatts and has offices in Billings, Butte and Helena. PPL EnergyPlus operates a trading floor in Butte that markets and sells power in the wholesale and retail energy market. PPL Montana and PPL EnergyPlus are subsidiaries of PPL Corporation (NYSE: PPL).