Friday, September 16, 2011

An Opportunity to visit Opportunity Enterprises...

Get the intentional play on words??  Forgive us -- we're just trying to make these entries a little bit more exciting...

We're always pleased to award funding to an organization which provides so much to its community, and Opportunity Enterprises in Valparaiso fits this bill.  As the organization’s name suggests, Opportunity Enterprises assists individuals with all types of disabilities and with all ranges of mobility and age. Their mission statement captures the true character and spirit of the work they do: “Opportunity Enterprises enriches the lives of individuals with disabilities by providing exceptional support and creating meaningful opportunities that allow our consumers to serve as an inspiration to our community.”

Opportunity Enterprises’ facility is over 20 years old, and its HVAC equipment dated back to the construction of the building. Not only were the old HVAC units inefficient, Opportunity Enterprises was also spending considerable amounts of money on service calls for their maintenance company to fix their old units. When the EECBG grant program presented itself, it was a perfect fit for them to apply for funding to replace these HVAC units.



The total project cost for Opportunity Enterprises to replace a total of 17 HVAC units with high efficiency units was $167,000. OED awarded Opportunity Enterprises with half of the project cost; $83,500. Since completing the project, they have seen savings of $1,500 in their electric bill and over $400.00 in savings on their gas bill.

In a nutshell: Big hearts, great mission and a deserving recipient.

Opportunity Enterprises is a recipient of an Energy Efficiency & Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) award, administered by the U.S. Department of Energy through the Indiana Office of Energy Development.

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