North Carolina's Touchstone Energy Cooperatives Celebrate Bright Ideas Month by Awarding More than $580,000 to Deserving NC Teachers

North Carolina's Touchstone Energy Cooperatives Celebrate Bright Ideas Month
by Awarding More than $580,000 to Deserving NC Teachers

RALEIGH, N.C., Nov. 2 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Starting today, throughout
the month of November, North Carolina's Touchstone Energy cooperatives will
award Bright Ideas education grants to deserving teachers across the state.
The grants provide funding for innovative, classroom-based projects that would
otherwise go unfunded. This year, the cooperatives contribution to education
in our state will surpass $580,000.

Any certified K-12 North Carolina teacher may apply for a grant of up to
$2,000 to be used for creative projects in their classroom. The Bright Ideas
program began 15 years ago with the purpose of helping teachers who were
funding classroom-based projects out of their own pockets and has since
provided funding for nearly 6,000 projects.

"North Carolina's Touchstone Energy cooperatives take pride in the local
communities we serve and see education as one of the best ways to positively
impact those communities," said Morgan Lashley, Bright Ideas Coordinator for
North Carolina's Association of Electric Cooperatives. "Bright Ideas is the
only grant program in our state exclusively for North Carolina teachers and we
are proud to support this worthy cause year after year."

Since the program's inception in 1994, North Carolina's Touchstone Energy
cooperatives have awarded more than $6.5 million to NC, teachers and will
surpass the $7 million mark this year. The Bright Ideas program has reached
more than 1 million North Carolina students in all subjects including math,
reading, science and technology, music and the arts.

Bright Ideas month boasts a variety of activities including, banquets honoring
winning teachers and featuring acclaimed guest speakers, a surprise classroom
visit and grant presentation from some of the Carolina Panthers players, and
"prize patrol" visits to winning teachers' schools. During each celebration,
cooperative representatives will award deserving teachers with their grant
checks.

North Carolina's electric cooperatives serve 2.5 million people in 93 of the
state's 100 counties.

SOURCE North Carolina's Touchstone Energy Cooperatives

Morgan Lashley of North Carolina's Touchstone Energy Cooperatives,
+1-800-662-8835, ext. 3214, Morgan.Lashley@ncemcs.com