Oak Ridge Today

UT-Battelle Angel Tree delivers clothing, gifts for children in need

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Heather Terry and Angel Tree Gifts

Team UT-Battelle volunteer Heather Terry sorts Angel Tree gifts donated by Oak Ridge National Laboratory employees. (Submitted photos)

Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Team UT-Battelle Angel Tree effort delivered clothing and gifts to area community agencies and schools this week. The items will brighten the holiday season for 240 needy children.

The gifts range from bikes to toys to clothes. Employees can also make monetary donations. In fact, members of the Atomic Labor and Trades Council, the laboratory bargaining unit, contributed $500.

The laboratory’s Angel Tree is electronic: Lab staff members can access a web page that offers anonymous selections of children from surrounding counties including Anderson, Roane, Loudon, Morgan, Union, Blount, Campbell and Knox. The donor can then donate a gift based on the child’s age, gender, size and interests provided by the website. As in past years, all 240 of the tree’s virtual “ornaments” were selected.

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Construction starts on Melton Lake Park pavilion

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Melton Lake Park Waterfront Pavilion

Construction work has started on a new waterfront pavilion at Melton Lake Park in Oak Ridge.

Construction work has started on a long-awaited pavilion at Melton Lake Park.

The $159,000 pavilion could be used for rowing and community events. The Oak Ridge City Council awarded a construction contract for it in May.

It’s the second major step in a waterfront development plan approved by City Council in December 2009. The first was the paving of the parking lot at Elza Gate Park.

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UT-Battelle donates $60,000 to Second Harvest Food Bank

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ORNL and Second Harvest

Second Harvest Food Bank Executive Director Elaine Streno accepts the first $20,000 installment of a $60,000 UT-Battelle donation from Oak Ridge National Laboratory Director Thom Mason. (Photo submitted by ORNL)

UT-Battelle gave Second Harvest Food Bank of East Tennessee $20,000 on Wednesday.

It’s the first part of a three-year, $60,000 donation to help the local nonprofit organization feed hungry East Tennessee residents, a press release said.

UT-Battelle, which manages Oak Ridge National Laboratory for the U.S. Department of Energy, donated the money at its annual United Way Leadership Giver’s Breakfast, the release said.

UT-Battelle donates $50,000 to Oak Ridge science competition

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UT-Battelle Grant Robots

UT-Battelle has announced a $50,000 donation for the FIRST Robotics and FIRST Lego science competition for Oak Ridge schools. Pictured above are, from left, Thomas Zacharia, Jeff Smith, Martin Keller, and Thom Mason. (Photo submitted by ORPSEF)

UT-Battelle has announced a $50,000 gift to fund the FIRST Robotics and FIRST Lego science competitions for Oak Ridge schools.

The announcement came as part of the capital campaign sponsored by the Oak Ridge Public Schools Education Foundation to make a “critical difference” by providing additional resources to Oak Ridge teachers and students.

Two of the region’s most popular and fastest growing activities, FIRST Robotics and FIRST LEGO are team competitions that combine the excitement of sports with real-world challenges of science and technology.

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UT-Battelle donates $150,000 to Boy Scouts classrooms

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UT-Battelle Donation to Boy Scouts

Oak Ridge National Laboratory Director Thom Mason presents Larry Brown, executive director of the Boy Scouts of America’s Great Smoky Mountain Council, with a $150,000 gift from UT-Battelle for the council’s ongoing campaign to renovate Camp Buck Toms. Pictured from left are Paul Carter, Brown, John Cicaroi, Mason, and Philip Webb. (Photo submitted by ORNL)

UT-Battelle has donated $150,000 to the Boy Scouts of America’s Great Smoky Mountain Council for an ongoing campaign to renovate Camp Buck Toms near Rockwood.

The money will be used to help set up classrooms for STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) activities at the camp.

“This corporate gift will help the local scouting organization establish quality STEM-related learning activities for the hundreds of Boy Scouts in our community who attend Camp Buck Toms,” ORNL Director Thom Mason said in a press release.

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