Georgia Power issued the following press release about a donation presented by Georgia Power’s Plant McDonough employees (also known as Plant McDonough-Atkinson) to nearby William J. Scott (“Scott”) Elementary School in the City of Atlanta:

Monday, December 20, 2021 – Last week, Georgia Power Senior Production Officer Allen Reaves and Eric Johnson, plant manager at Plant McDonough presented a donation to William J. Scott (“Scott”) Elementary School in Atlanta. Scott Elementary is a Title I school that is approximately three miles from the plant. 

The Title I designation is associated with Part A (Title I) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, as amended by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESEA), which provides financial assistance to local educational agencies for children from low-income families to help ensure that all children meet challenging state academic standards. According to greatschools.com, 100% of the students at William J. Scott Elementary School are in low-income families.

Scott Elementary School has the distinct honor of having the first STEM Lab in the Atlanta Public Schools system. The school partners with the Vision to Vision program (eyeglasses), Children’s Healthcare Van, the Atlanta Food Bank and Hands on Atlanta Saturday School to provide services to its school community.

In the past, Plant McDonough has supported Scott Elementary through individual employee donations that included food for breakfast (for those children who were late to school and could not eat breakfast) and re-usable water bottles for the children to fill in lieu of water fountain use due to COVID safety protocols. Plant personnel have also completed a school beautification project for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service and purchased Christmas presents for the students in one of the classes.

About Plant McDonough-Atkinson

Plant McDonough (also called Plant MdDonough-Atkinson), is a natural gas-powered facility located on the banks of the Chattahoochee River bordered by South Cobb Drive, Maner Road, and Plant Atkinson Road, near Smyrna.

According to the facility’s page on the Georgia Power website:

Plant McDonough-Atkinson represents a major commitment by Georgia Power to ensure an adequate supply of electricity is available to meet the electricity needs in metro Atlanta and north Georgia. Plant McDonough-Atkinson is named for the late John J. “Jack” McDonough – who was Georgia Power’s president from 1957 to 1963 and for Henry M. Atkinson, one of the founders of Georgia Railway and Electric Company. Georgia Power retired its coal-fired units at Plant McDonough-Atkinson in 2011 and added three natural gas combined cycle units. These units, located on the 358-acre plant site about six miles northwest of Atlanta on the Chattahoochee River, began commercially operation in 2012. The three natural gas units are capable of producing 2,520 megawatts of electricity and, on average, can supply enough energy to power approximately 1.7 million homes.

About Georgia Power

Georgia Power got its start in 1902 as an electric street railroad company named the Georgia Railroad & Electric Company. At the time of its formation electricity was primarily used for street lighting and trolley cars.

Henry Atkinson and Jack Spalding consolidated several existing hydroelectric companies with Georgia Railroad & Electric in October 1911, with Atkinson as president.

After acquiring several power companies in other parts of Georgia, the company reorganized as the Georgia Power Company in 1928.

Georgia Power is now part of the Southern Company.