December sixth was an exciting day for 50 residents of the Newtown area as the Community Foundation of Sarasota County and FPL teamed up to provide free home energy makeovers. The energy upgrades are estimated to save these customers hundreds of dollars on their electric bills annually.

This partnership was created after the Community Foundation began seeing a dramatic increase in requests for energy assistance through the Helping Hand/Good Neighbor Fund and began brainstorming on additional ways to help. At the same time, FPL executives were exploring ideas for teaming up with a community partner to forge a new customer assistance program.

After several conversations between the Foundation and FPL, a partnership was created and the Home Energy Makeover Program was born. A first for both organizations, the program turned out to be the perfect blending of the strengths and capabilities of each organization and a win-win for low income homeowners.

Marlene Santos, Vice President of Customer service for FPL said, "Our goal is to make a difference in our customers lives and one way we can do that is by helping them improve their home’s energy efficiency to save money year-round. We can all learn to be more energy efficient and through this initiative we can reach and help those who need it most."

"By partnering in the FPL Home Energy Makeover initiative, we have the opportunity to make a real difference in people’s lives in a very concrete way…saving them money and making their homes more affordable and comfortable as well," said Stewart Stearns, President and CEO of the Community Foundation. "We know that low income families in older homes spend a disproportionate percentage of their budget on energy bills."

Volunteers from the Foundation and FPL professionals made up teams that completed these makeovers. The pre-selected homeowners received a variety of energy-efficient upgrades including:

§   Weather stripping, hot water pipe insulation and attic insulation

§   Cleaning and/or replacing air conditioning filters

§   Changing incandescent light bulbs to energy-saving compact fluorescent bulbs

§   Installation of low-flow shower heads and faucet heads to reduce hot water flow

§   Duct repair and air conditioning maintenance provided by the Manasota Air Conditioning Contractors Association

The program in Sarasota is a pilot for FPL as they will now implement it all over Florida and are already planning another home energy makeover for 50 low-income Broward County customers in the first quarter of 2007.

The Community Foundation is proud to be a part of this exciting initiative and it is the best example of how the Foundation partners to make charitable giving work in our community.