Northeast Utilities Awards Environmental Community Grants

Connecticut Light and Power and Yankee Gas announced the recipients of four grants that will fund environmental initiatives in communities served by the companies.

The Environmental Community Grants, sponsored by Northeast Utilities, the parent company of CL&P and Yankee Gas, are given to local community and grass-roots environmental projects that often are overlooked by larger grant programs.

The recipients of the grants for 2011 are:

• Interdistrict School for Arts and Communications in New London: ISAAC received a $1,200 grant to purchase flower bulbs, soil and planters for a Community Garden Give-Back Program.  The school's 181 sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders come from 12 southeastern Connecticut towns.
• Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center in Mystic: The nature center has been awarded $1,500 to purchase backpacks, binoculars, compasses, and other materials for a  "Family Backpack" initiative.  The center has eight miles of hiking trails within a 300-acre wooded preserve.
• Natchaug Hospital in Mansfield Center: Natchaug has been awarded $1,500, which they will use to transform an interior courtyard into a therapeutic garden and recreational area. Natchaug Hospital is a not-for-profit organization that provides care for people with mental illness and substance-abuse problems.
• The Georgetown-based Norwalk River Watershed Initiative: The NRWI is getting an $897 grant for the design and production of a hands-on, interactive working model of a rain garden. The rain garden will be used to educate homeowners as to how a rain garden works to filter storm water runoff from roofs, driveways and other surfaces before it reaches streams and rivers.

“These community projects each reflect a plan to connect people to their local environments through education,” said Northeast Utilities Environmental Team member Pat Baxa. “We look forward to seeing the initiatives succeed because the rewards will be enjoyed by many.”