Midwest Energy Coordinates $50,000 in Donations to Area Mental Health Agencies

Midwest Energy is coordinating a total of $50,000 in donations to improve telehealth infrastructure for area mental health providers, enabling them to better meet clients’ mental health needs during the COVID-19 pandemic.  Agencies receiving the grants include: 

• $25,000 to High Plains Mental Health Center, Hays (serves 20 Midwest Energy counties), with funds to be used to purchase iPads for providers, protective cases and Ethernet adapters to enable remote video conference appointments. 
• $12,500 to Compass Behavioral Health, Garden City (serves nine Midwest Energy counties), also for iPads, cases and Ethernet adaptors for remote video appointments.
• $12,500 to Center for Counseling and Consultation Service, Great Bend (serves four Midwest Energy counties), to purchase software allowing electronic prescriptions for clients reducing their need for office and pharmacy visits.

“We were able to make this donation by leveraging matching funds from our industry partners,” said Pat Parke, Midwest Energy’s CEO.  The $50,000 total is made up of  $15,000 from Midwest Energy’s Community Fund, matched by $10,000 from Denver-based CoBank, one of Midwest’s lenders, through its Sharing Success program.  The final $25,000 contribution comes from Xylem, a global water technology company headquartered in Rye Brook, NY, which also makes Midwest’s automated meters.  Through their corporate social responsibility program, Watermark, Xylem coordinates a Partner Matching Contributions program in which they join together with partners such as Midwest Energy to support communities that have been impacted by COVID-19.

“Meeting the mental health needs of our clients these past six months have been a challenge,” said Walter Hill, Executive Director of High Plains Mental Health.  “This grant will help our 65 providers to continue providing services, while reducing potential COVID-19 spread in our communities.”

Midwest Energy, headquartered in Hays, Kan., is an electric and natural gas cooperative, serving 92,000 customers in Central and Western Kansas.

Xylem (XYL) is a leading global water technology company committed to solving critical water and infrastructure challenges with technological innovation.  With more than 16,000 diverse employees, Xylem delivered revenue of $5.25 billion in 2019.  The company is creating a more sustainable world by enabling customers to optimize water and resource management, and helping communities in more than 150 countries become water-secure.  Xylem Watermark, the Company’s corporate citizenship program, was initiated in 2008, with a focus on protecting and providing safe water resources around the world and also educating people on water-related issues.

CoBank is a $152 billion cooperative bank serving vital industries across rural America. The bank provides loans, leases, export financing and other financial services to agribusinesses and rural power, water and communications providers in all 50 states. The bank also provides wholesale loans and other financial services to affiliated Farm Credit associations serving more than 70,000 farmers, ranchers and other rural borrowers in 23 states around the country.