Water seemed to be the theme of the evening on August 12, when Project Porchlight stepped out to distribute free compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs in Port Townsend, WA. The forecast called for heavy rain, but that didn’t stop us from heading out to meet the volunteers who’d promised to show up. They didn’t let us down! Swan School teacher Russ Yates (pictured here in the top row, far left, with some of his students) and 12 of his pupils glided in to save the day, as did several volunteers from the local Big Brothers Big Sisters. We were also joined by members of the WSU Beach Watchers, a Washington State University initiative that trains Puget Sound community members to protect the area’s creatures, landscape and natural resources.

Everyone gathered in Port Townsend’s Chetzamoka Park for the pre-blitz pep talk, raincoats in hand. And then we were off, ready to take on the neighborhood and face whatever Mother Nature had to throw our way. Together, we delivered 550 CFL bulbs and the message that simple actions matter—whether it’s replacing a light bulb or turning off a leaky tap. Our volunteers were well-informed and keen to share their knowledge with the local residents. We were particularly impressed by the young Swan School students; they'd been taught the importance of energy conservation from an early age and were very motivated to distribute information about energy savings to the receptive Port Townsend community.

On behalf of Project Porchlight—and our partner Puget Sound Energy—we’d like to extend a big thank you to all our volunteers! We had a great time meeting you and working together, and we’re very glad we could send you home satisfied, happy, and dry!

Washington state’s oldest local energy utility, Puget Sound Energy serves more than 1 million electric customers and nearly 750,000 natural gas customers in 11 counties. A subsidiary of Puget Energy, PSE meets the energy needs of its growing customer base through incremental, cost-effective energy conservation, procurement of sustainable energy resources, and far-sighted investment in the energy-delivery infrastructure. PSE employees are dedicated to providing great customer service and delivering energy that is safe, reliable, reasonably priced, and environmentally responsible. For more information, visit www.PSE.com.