Community Education & Enrichment

Environmental Impact

  • Conservation Sponsor of Holland’s Tulip Time Festival, encouraging sustainable practices through daily tips, giveaways to special events, and recycling collection.
  • Participation and leadership of Holland in Bloom, the local committee of America in Bloom, a national education and community involvement program that encourages beautification through landscaping, environmental and lifestyle enhancements.
  • Water Festival, a celebration of our most valuable natural resource in which HBPW partners with several area organizations on watershed tours, boating events, water plant tours and a free rain barrel workshop.
  • Participation in Green Commute Week, where HBPW employees pledge to walk, bike or take group transportation to work.
  • Adopt-a-Highway, 24 consecutive years of litter clean up on US 31.
  • Source Water Protection Plan, a voluntary program to identify and safeguard against potential contaminants of our drinking water source.

Community Education

  • The Power for the 21st Century (P21) initiative to include and inform the Holland community on important decisions about our energy future.
  • High School Internship Program, providing real-world learning experience to high school students interested in utility or engineering careers.
  • Youth Connection Program with Escape Ministries, a 10-week paid summer program for 80 at-risk students to learn teamwork and work ethic through hands-on experience.
  • futurePREP Academy, a program with OAISD that implants high school students at HBPW twice weekly for a semester to experience different career opportunities.
  • IChallengeU, a summer program through OAISD’s futurePREP program, which challenges local high school students to solve business challenges and earn college credit.

Holiday Cheer

  • Lighting Up the Holidays at Centennial Park, stringing hundreds of LED Christmas in the downtown park.
  • Holiday Lights Rebate, through a public display at Herrick Library, HBPW showed the savings of switching to LED holiday lights and passed out $3-off coupons for local hardware stores.
  • Toys for Tots Giveaway, providing free Energy Efficiency totes to all families in the Toys for Tots program including light bulbs, a smart power strop, an LED nightlight, and information on how to save even more energy.
  • Employee-sponsored involvement in the Salvation Army’s Angel Tree Toy Drive and the Community Action House’s Personal Products Drive.

Business Outreach

  • $50,000 annual contribution to Lakeshore Advantage to promote recruitment and retention of businesses in the Holland area.
  • Energy Smarts for Business, an energy management curriculum for commercial and industrial customers.
  • LED Lunch and Learn, a free lunch for HBPW business customers to learn more about LED technology and incentive programs offered by the utility.

Residential Giveaways and More

  • LED Giveaway, a yearly giveaway event for all residential customers through local hardware stores.
  • Lower My Bill, HBPW offers residential customers free home efficiency check-ups and the installation of energy/water-saving devices.
  • Partnerships with Habitat for Humanity and the Ottawa County Community Action Agency on Energy Star® refrigerator retrofits and other energy efficiency initiatives.
  • National Night Out, a national program aimed at strengthening neighborhood safety and spirit. HBPW distributed CFL bulbs, energy tips and reusable grocery bags at this year’s highly-attended picnic and expo.
  • Senior Commodities Day, a monthly Community Action House giveaway event for qualified seniors to get food and other necessities. HBPW gave away Energy Efficiency totes at one of the events last year.
  • Sponsorship of the MAX Transit 1 in 3,000,000 celebration and a public presentation of Make it a Green Year to teach residents how to reduce home energy use and their carbon footprint.
  • Sponsored the Hope College student housing Energy-Saving Competition, which awarded prizes to the cottage that saved the most energy over a 24-day period.
  • Ongoing collection of hazardous waste items such as refrigerators freezers, window AC units, de-humidifiers, CFL bulbs, e-waste, mercury thermometers, pharmaceuticals and more.
  • Public and school tours of James De Young, the wastewater plant and drinking water plants.
  • Collaboration with public safety departments at the future site of the Holland Energy Park to support a residential smoke-out exercise for local fire departments. Also, cooperation with police and sheriff’s departments to stage SWAT team exercises at the now-demolished API building.