United Way Alliance receives $500K from BHE Renewables

The following article first appeared in The Parkersburg News & Sentinel on September 17, 2022.

The United Way Alliance of the Mid-Ohio Valley has received a half-million-dollar contribution from a company investing $500 million in Jackson County.

BHE Renewables and Precision Cast Parts, part of the Berkshire Hathaway group, this week announced a deal with the state of West Virginia to acquire more than 2,000 acres in Ravenswood, the site of the closed Century Aluminum plant where a titanium melt facility powered by solar energy will be located, the first renewable energy microgrid-powered industrial site in the state.

Also announced was a $500,000 donation to the United Way through the company.

“It’s a huge gift,” said United Way Executive Director Stacy DeCicco, who was in Charleston Tuesday when the announcement was made. “They obviously wanted to impact Jackson County.”

BHE is eager to see how the money will be used, the company said.

“Jackson County is more than a great place to do business. It’s a place BHE Renewables now calls ‘home,'” the company said in a statement. “Jackson County residents are our neighbors. From the moment the decision was made to proceed with this exciting project, our President and CEO Alicia Knapp made it clear that we would find ways to invest in the community.”

Knapp was in Charleston for the announcement on Tuesday.

“We can’t wait to see how United Way Alliance of the Mid-Ohio Valley will infuse those funds to improve people’s lives,” the company said.

How the funds from BHE will be used has yet to be determined, but the use of the money is unrestricted, DeCicco said.

A group will be assembled in a week to study ways to use the money, which was a reason BHE chose the United Way Alliance, she said.

“They know we’d bring the right people to the table,” DeCicco said.

The half-million-dollar contribution is the largest ever made to the United Way Alliance, DeCicco said. The previous high was from Harry and Kathe Deitzler and the Deitzler Foundation for $100,000, she said.

The contribution from BHE will last a long time, DeCicco said. The gift from the Deitzlers is still being used for pandemic recovery, she said.