With school starting soon, this is the perfect time to remind teachers that up to $10,000 in grant funding is available through FRED's Technology Grants for Rural Schools Program. The grants are funded by a donation from Rural Telephone Finance Cooperative (RTFC) and strive to help public schools served by OPASTCO members bring modern computers to every classroom, connect to the information superhighway and make sure that effective and engaging software and online resources are an integral part of the curriculum.

Thanks to the generosity of RTFC, $50,000 in technology grants will be available this fall. Grants range from $1,000 - $10,000 and all public schools located in OPASTCO members' service areas are eligible to apply. For an application and more information, please visit Technology Grants. The deadline for this program is September 14, 2007.

If you are a school looking to apply, please contact your local telephone company to find out if they are an OPASTCO member.

FRED's Community Development Ethyl Grant deadline is approaching. Make sure you submit your application before October 18th. These grants are open to any community located in the service area of an OPASTCO member telephone company, and can be used to eliminate an eyesore, create jobs, beautify the community or renovate, a historical building, park or other public place.

CoBank and FRED are pleased to offer the 2007 TELERGEE Benchmark Survey, which includes 2006 year-end financial data from over 200 rural Incumbent Local Exchange Carriers (ILECs) nationwide. All participants in the study are clients of TELERGEE member CPA firms. Each TELERGEE firm supplies the financial statements that go into producing the benchmarks presented in the study. The study presents four classifications of ILECs:
1. Cooperatives on cost study
2. Cooperatives on average schedule
3. Corporations on cost study
4. Corporations on average schedule

Winnebago Cooperative Telephone Association General Manager Terry Wegener presents a $5,000 scholarship check to FRED's 2007 Everette Kneece Return to Rural America Scholarship Recipient David Rygh. David ranked first in his class with a 4.0 G.P.A. He was also actively involved in school sports, and community activities. David also interned with Winnebago Cooperative Telephone Association to learn more about the accounting field and how it applied in the business world.

How about You?
Has your company nominated a successful grant or student to receive funding from FRED? We want to highlight your success!

FRED is trying to gear up for its 20th Anniversary, and wants to collect as many pictures from the past as possible to show how FRED has benefited communities schools, students, and OPASTCO members. FRED will be accepting high resolution photos via e-mail to Stephanie Patton, FRED Program Coordinator, at sap@opastco.org. Please make sure you include names of those people in the photo, where to photo was taken, and the date (at least the year).

Only have original printed photos? Send them to FRED, 21 Dupont Circle NW, Suite 700, Washington, DC 20036. We will scan them and return originals to you. Please be sure to provide a return address so we can send the photos back to you.