Glacier Institute nets $20,000 grant from Tom's of Maine

The Glacier Institute is going green with a lot of help from Maine — and friends across the world.

Tom’s of Maine, the company best known for its natural toothpastes and deodorants, announced last week the Glacier Institute was awarded a $20,000 grant to build a solar and wind power system at its Big Creek facility up the North Fork. The system will be part of the teaching curriculum for more than 1,000 students who take classes at Big Creek every year.

“It’s like a dream come true,” said Joyce Baltz, director of the Institute. The project was one of five $20,000 grants Tom’s awarded as part of its “50 States for Good” program.

Baltz began writing the grant proposal months ago and recently learned the Institute was chosen as the lone Montana project. But it still had to beat out projects from across the country — and states with much larger populations than Montana.

Part of the selection process included having people “like” the project on Facebook. Baltz said she went to work to get as much help from the social media community as possible, including a pretty good sampling of the 26,000 former students who have taken classes at Big Creek over the years.

“It just goes to show the generosity of the community of Montana,” Baltz said.

Baltz also worked with Sunelco Inc., a Hamilton-based alternative energy company that has 25 years experience.

She said the Tom’s of Maine grant will pay for all but $3,000 of the project cost. Construction on the system will start next April and Baltz said she’d eventually like to see the Institute expand its renewable energy capacity at Big Creek and offer adult classes on how the system works.

The campus is completely off the electrical grid and relies on propane generators for power. The new system won’t replace the propane, but it will supplement power to the campus.