A $30,000 grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation will allow the 2007 Tiverton Energy Solutions Expo to expand the educational component of its event, with specific programming for public school children.

            Marie Wilson, spokesperson for the expo which will take place at the Tiverton and District Sports Centre on June 9 & 10, said the organizing committee is extremely excited and appreciative of the added initiatives the grant is going to help establish, especially in the area of education for this event in only its second year.

            “Energy is such an important subject and will continue to dominate the headlines well into the future so we believe it’s very important that young people learn about this important area. A new passport program we are hoping to introduce in local schools will encourage students to visit our many booths, presentations and demonstrations of various aspects of energy from technology to transportation to healthy homes and healthy living,” Wilson said. “If we really are going to establish this area as the “powerhouse of Ontario”, it’s important that our young people understand and appreciate one of this area’s primary resources in all its forms, and how to conserve that resource from an early age and onwards into adulthood.”

            Wilson also noted that the grant says volumes about the importance of energy, energy conservation and the Energy Expo Solutions, not only to the local area, but the province and country as a whole.

            The Energy Expo’s grant was one of 15 grants totaling $388,500 that was announced for Bruce and Grey Counties by provincial Culture Minister Caroline Di Cocco on April 11 in a press release.

            For more information about exhibitors’ packages or the Tiverton Energy Expo Solutions, which is a fundraiser for the Tiverton & District Lions, please call Tara Byles or Susan Novak at (519) 368-3976 or email: energysolutions@brucetelecom.com.