Buckhorn Children and Family Services held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for its new solar energy installation at the center’s campus in Buckhorn, Kentucky, this fall. The solar project, which was funded in part by the Appalachian Solar Finance Fund, is expected to provide a lifetime energy cost savings of $188,622 cost savings and 26.9 KW of renewable energy for the center, allowing BCFS to redirect those savings to its mission of supporting vulnerable children and families in the area. The installation’s impact goes beyond reducing BCFS’s power costs. According to Smith, the solar installation aligns with BCFS’s mission to provide mental and physical healing, social acceptance and spiritual hope to at-risk children and families across Kentucky by allowing them to use the savings on energy toward covering programming and administrative overhead costs. In addition to addiction recovery services, BCFS supports foster care in Eastern Kentucky, a residential center for youth with disabilities, outpatient behavioral health services and a family preservation program. “For over a century,” Smith wrote in an email, “our people have often been deprived of basic services and opportunities that are often commonplace for others throughout the country. Arguably byproducts of that economic depression and lack of opportunity, child abuse and neglect, as well as drug and alcohol addiction, are rampant in our communities.” He noted that the Buckhorn Children and Family Services has been a refuge for many clients, and sometimes the last hope for treatment.Kentucky State Rep. Chris Fugate delivered opening remarks as BCFS’s new solar array was unveiled. Photo by Rance Garrison.The installation isn’t BCBF’s first foray into solar arrays. The first phase of the installation began in 2021, but due to budgetary constraints at the time, only half of the installation was finished. Smith explained that the second phase was ultimately funded through a collective effort of private and nonprofit funders that included the Appalachian Solar Finance Fund, the Mountain Association, Everybody Solar and Solar Moonshot.The Appalachian Solar Finance Fund leverages partnerships across the Appalachian region to promote sustainable energy solutions for nonprofits and mission-based organizations. Appalachian Voices, the nonprofit organization that publishes The Appalachian Voice, serves as the fiscal sponsor for the Appalachian Solar Finance Fund. In this case, the fund contributed a $20,000 grant award to the project. “The Solar Finance Fund has been a wonderful community partner,” said Mitch Smith, chief financial officer of Buckhorn Children and Family Services. “They’ve been eager to help in any way they can, not only with the application and funding but in general throughout the entire project.”The financial benefits of solar energy were also echoed by Josh Bills, senior energy analyst with Mountain Association. “Installing solar and offsettin
Mer. Gen 8th, 2025
