Direct Energy presented a $2,500 Reduce Your Use For Good Grant to Medina Creative Housing, a nonprofit that provides affordable housing and quality services for persons with disabilities living in Medina County (the Greater Cleveland area). Medina Creative Housing is the first nonprofit in Ohio to receive this grant.

Through the Reduce Your Use For Good program, Direct Energy is donating up to $100,000 to implement energy-saving changes to nonprofits’ operations, and awards grants in $2,500 increments. Applications are available online at ReduceYourUseForGood.com and on the Direct Energy Facebook page.

“At Direct Energy, we’re committed to harnessing our energy expertise to make a difference in people’s lives,” said Jason Wasserman, commercial director for Direct Energy. “Reduce Your Use For Good grants like this one for Medina Creative Housing will help support nonprofits to decrease their energy use in order to have more funds to support their mission.”

To apply for the grant, Medina Creative Housing submitted a short video showcasing their facility and their mission.

“Medina Creative Housing is very thankful to have been awarded this grant from Direct Energy,” said Dianne DePasquale-Hagerty, executive director of Medina Creative Housing. “Through this generous grant, our organization has the opportunity to create more energy efficient housing which will lower our operational costs and allow us to apply needed funds directly to our mission, making the dream of independent living come true for individuals with disabilities.”

In an effort to use social media to drive social good, Direct Energy is leveraging its Facebook community to help award the grants. For every 2,500 new “likes” Direct Energy receives on their Facebook page, they will award another nonprofit applicant with $2,500 to be used toward reducing their energy use, helping them to continue the good work they do.