BY KAREN BOSSICK

POWER Engineers has cancelled its annual “Burnout” party due to the ongoing COVID pandemic.

But the company’s decision to cancel has a silver lining for The Hunger Coalition and other nonprofits in the 55 communities where POWER has offices.

The Hunger Coalition will receive a $30,000 donation this month—part of a half-million dollars the engineering, environmental and technology consulting firm plans to donate to foodbanks and other organizations across the United States and Canada.

"We are incredibly grateful for our partnership with POWER Engineers,” said Krista Felton, development manager for The Hunger Coalition. “This generous gift comes at a critical time when locals are experiencing food insecurity at a historic rate.”

The annual “Burnout” party was established to celebrate the anniversary of how the company’s first employees, their families and the Hailey community pulled together to restart the firm after a disastrous office fire in 1977. With this year’s post-Christmas parties canceled, the POWER leadership determined the best use of the money budgeted for the parties would be to give back.

“Since we won’t be sitting down together for a meal, we’re going to give meals to others,” said Jim Haynes, POWER’s president and CEO. “It’s a silver lining, being able to turn a disappointment into something good for our communities.”

This is the company’s largest philanthropic effort to date. The firm also regularly donates thousands of dollars each year to STEAM education through its POWER Foundation. That foundation also donated more than $150,000 in 2020 to 45 schools to meet pandemic-related needs, such as remote learning equipment and mental health support for students.

POWER Engineers was founded in 1976 in Hailey to provide consulting for clients in power delivery and generation, food and beverage, government, renewables and storage, campus energy and oil and gas industries. It is an employee-owned company with more than 3,000 employees across North America.