Media Contact: Karl Walquist (775) 834-3891

The Sierra Pacific Resources Foundation is donating $1,000 to the Josh Farler Helping Hands Foundation in Yerington. Wade Barcellos, the director of Sierra Pacific Power's Fort Churchill and Tracy generating stations will present the contribution to Mark Chidwick, president of the Helping Hands Foundation, on Nov. 8 at the Fort Churchill power plant near Wabuska.

"The Helping Hands Foundation is a great organization because of the help it offers families affected by cancer or other serious illnesses,"said Barcellos.

Created in memory of Josh Farler, a Yerington High School student who died from cancer a few years after graduation, the Helping Hands Foundation was formed by local friends and relatives of the Farler family. The organization raises money to help defray non-medical costs for families of those with life-threatening illnesses or injuries who must spend long periods of time away from home.  

Barcellos said his company has a special connection to the foundation because Josh Farler's father, James Farler, and his uncle, Mark Chidwick, both work for Sierra Pacific Power. Barcellos said Josh Farler was attending an electric lineman's school in Idaho when he was diagnosed with cancer.

Through direct grants, scholarships, and volunteerism, the Sierra Pacific Resources Foundation actively supports improvements in the quality of life in the communities served by Sierra Pacific Power in northern Nevada and northeastern California.