Got Electric’s donation to Shenandoah County SEARCH is expected to lower utility costs for years, allowing more resources to flow toward resident care and enrichment.
MOUNT JACKSON, Va. — Fifty-seven solar panels that might otherwise have remained surplus equipment are being given a new purpose in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley: helping a nonprofit devote more of its resources to adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Got Electric donated the Heliene 380-watt panels to Shenandoah County SEARCH Inc., a nonprofit in Mount Jackson that operates a state-licensed group home and community thrift store. The donation was announced Aug. 14.
Twelve panels are designated for the SEARCH group home, while the remaining 45 are planned for a larger installation at the nonprofit’s thrift store. SEARCH still needs to raise approximately $29,000 to complete the thrift-store portion of the project. GiveSolar, which helped connect Got Electric with SEARCH, also contributed $500 toward remaining installation expenses at the group home.
For SEARCH, the value of the donation goes beyond renewable energy. Lower electricity bills can translate directly into additional money for resident care, staffing, improvements to the home and activities that enrich residents’ lives.
“This is transformational. What appears to be a solar project is really a mission project,” SEARCH board member Kim Cassford said in the announcement.
The numbers illustrate the potential impact.
The group home’s solar installation is projected to generate about 5,644 kilowatt-hours annually and offset an estimated 75% of its electricity use. The larger thrift-store system is projected to produce approximately 24,702 kilowatt-hours each year and offset more than 65% of the store’s electricity consumption.
SEARCH spent approximately $11,500 on electricity during its fiscal year that ran from July 2025 through June 2026. The nonprofit expects the solar projects to produce savings reaching well into six figures over the next 20 years.
Those savings matter because SEARCH’s work is deeply personal. Founded in 1978, the organization operates an eight-bed group home providing around-the-clock support for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Some residents have lived there for more than 20 years.
The SEARCH Thrift Store extends that community connection. It helps sustain the nonprofit’s mission while offering affordable clothing, furniture and household items. In 2025, the store recorded 10,871 customer transactions, with an average item price of $3.93.
“Every dollar we save through solar energy can be redirected to the things that truly matter,” group home administrator Robin Tull said.
The project also demonstrates what can happen when organizations contribute different pieces of a solution. Got Electric supplied the panels. GiveSolar connected available equipment with a nonprofit that could benefit from it. Green Hill Solar was identified to install the group-home panels. SEARCH and its supporters are working to secure the additional funding needed for the thrift-store installation.
It isn’t the first time that relationship has put surplus solar equipment to work for a community. Got Electric Virginia Operations Director Andy Hershberger and GiveSolar Director Jeff Heie previously collaborated on a volunteer-supported solar installation at Eastern Mennonite School. In 2025, they also helped direct surplus Got Electric panels to Athens Area Habitat for Humanity in Georgia.
That pattern offers a larger lesson in generosity: Something one organization no longer needs can become an enduring resource for another.
For SEARCH, the benefit could continue each time the sun rises and another portion of the organization’s electricity is generated without appearing on a utility bill. Over time, those avoided expenses can become outings, celebrations, household necessities, staffing support and improvements to a place residents call home.
“The most powerful gifts keep giving long after the moment of generosity has passed. This partnership turns sunlight into something deeply human — more resources, more opportunities and more care for people who deserve to thrive in the communities they call home.”
That is compassion translated into infrastructure: businesses, nonprofits and community partners finding a practical way to make existing resources work harder for people.
And in Mount Jackson, 57 solar panels now have the opportunity to generate something beyond electricity — lasting support for a community built around care.