From the Desk of Prosperity’s Summer Intern, Rachel Bayless:

The Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) grant and loan applications are due in less than two weeks. Some of those applications are massive. Last week I looked through all of the 2010 applications Sarah wrote to gather up some data. Some of them are about 200 pages long! Most are about 100. I’m glad I’m the intern and not the grant writer. But I’ll tell you about the data I gathered. In 2010 alone Sarah wrote grants totaling $2,680,032.27. The projects those grants are helping to fund will have an average of 41% energy savings. That’s pretty significant. I’m not sure where we stand this year, but the deadline for REAP is June 15 and a lot of grant applications have been completed, and there are quite a few still coming in.

I must admit my favorite part of this internship is that it is in the country. We just don’t have all kinds of critters running around at home. My mom will insist that I mention that we do have a fox living in our neighborhood and that the neighbors have recently decided to raise chickens. But we live in a suburb. Despite what my friends at school think, I do not live on a farm, there isn’t a cornfield for miles, and any country accent I have is from listening to too much Brad Paisley. But I kind of wish I did live on a farm! I love the cows. The benefit to working on a farm and not living on a farm though is that I get to look at the cows, but I don’t have to take care of them. As far as I’m concerned, they eat grass, and that is taking care of cows. I’m sure anyone owning a cow would have a lot to say about that though!

I also don’t have to worry about the weather like farmers do. With all the rain lately, I’ve just been unhappy about driving in storms. But the farmers are worried because they can’t plant. Luckily, it has dried up. My phone calls this week have been to a lot of farmers who can’t quite hear me, because they are on a tractor. Again, as far as I’m concerned, corn grows in the produce section at Wal-Mart! I know that’s not true. And I’m happy to talk a little louder (or even yell) into the phone so that they can keep up the good work.

photos by Rachel Bayless