Children returning to school after the winter holidays are able to participate in a vital educational program and have a warm and secure place to go before school because of funding provided by PPL Montana.
The $7,000 grant allows a pilot program called “The Breakfast Club” to continue to assist students from kindergarten through the eighth grade in the Colstrip School District through the end of the 2003-2004 school year.
The Breakfast Club, which benefits more than 60 students, is a before-school program that began in November 2003 to provide a safe and caring place for working parents to leave their children before school begins each morning.
The program, located at the Isabel Bills Community Learning Center, also provides a trained staff to assist the children with homework assignments, a nutritional breakfast through the School Lunch Program, a bus ride to school and a variety of learning-based activities.
“Many parents in Colstrip must go to work before their children are off to school in the mornings,” said Jim Nygaard, superintendent of Colstrip Schools. “The Breakfast Club is about providing parents with peace of mind and giving students a positive environment in which to kick-start their school day.
“This is such an important program and a great opportunity for the parents and children of Colstrip,” he said. “I’m extremely appreciative for the effort by PPL Montana to keep this program alive for this school year.”
“PPL Montana is proud to be able to fund a unique educational program such as the Breakfast Club and support Colstrip and its surrounding communities,” said David Hoffman, PPL Montana’s manager of external affairs. “It’s this kind of investment in the education of today’s students that will build tomorrow’s leaders.”
The Breakfast Club is sponsored by the Quality of Life Corporation, a partnership between the Colstrip School District and the Colstrip Parks & Recreation District (CPRD) that works to better the quality of life for the community of Colstrip and the surrounding areas.
PPL Montana, a subsidiary of PPL Corporation (NYSE: PPL), has offices in Billings, Butte and Helena. With more than 500 employees, PPL Montana operates the coal-fired Colstrip and Corette power plants and 11 hydroelectric facilities along the Missouri, Flathead, Clark Fork and Madison rivers and Rosebud Creek. PPL EnergyPlus, another PPL subsidiary, operates a trading floor in Butte that markets and sells power in the wholesale energy market.
PPL Corporation, headquartered in Allentown, Pa., controls or owns nearly 11,500 megawatts of generating capacity in the United States, sells energy in key U.S. markets and delivers electricity to customers in Pennsylvania, the United Kingdom and Latin America.
Note to Editors: A photograph depicting children, parents and educators at The Breakfast Club is available at /NR/rdonlyres/67DBC3AF-4CC4-4897-9B20-AF984ED98459/0/breakfastclubgroup.jpeg