South Plains Electric Cooperative is committed to the communities it serves. Operation Round Up is an innovative program in which Cooperative members help to provide funding for people and projects in our local communities.

Operation Round Up is funded by Cooperative members rounding their bill up to the nearest dollar. In 2022, the Operation Round Up Board of Directors awarded a total of $19,500 in grants to 13 local organizations.

CASA of the South Plains was awarded a $1,500 Operation Round Up Community Grant. Volunteers at CASA of the South Plains advocate for the best interest of children in the foster care system. There are often a shortage of foster care families, homes, and other facilities in the Lubbock area. When that happens, those children are sent to live in placements far away from the community they know.

These placements can oftentimes be traumatizing to children, and some of which have experienced neglect and abuse. The number of children who are placed out of the Lubbock region has dramatically increased over the past couple of years.

In these types of situations, staff members at CASA of the South Plains try to regularly visit these children to assess their safety and relay any recommendations back to the judge overseeing their case. Given the distances between these children and Lubbock, it can be difficult and expensive to make these visits happen.

CASA of the South Plains was able to utilize their Community Grant to fund staff members’ visits to 124 children in 100 out-of-region placements. The grant enabled CASA of the South Plains to ensure personal contact, safety and best-interest advocacy for children from the Lubbock area who are currently in the foster care system.

Click here for more information about the program.