BUTTE – The National Center for Appropriate Technology, or NCAT, is headquartered in the small city of Butte, but has a big mission.
“We serve over a million people, a million Americans across this country in all 50 states, along the lines of sustainable energy and local foods and sustainable agricultural production,” said Steve Thompson, who was selected as the new executive director.
Thompson will be replacing longtime Executive Director Kathleen Hadley. Thompson said the non-profit will continue its mission of helping people in Butte become energy efficient.
“We’re talking about things like weatherization, putting in insulation and good windows. We’ve got some amazing historic structures here and some of them are really energy efficient and some of them cost a lot of money to heat and that’s money that goes right through the smokestack,” he said.
NCAT will continue free classes on how to grow food locally.
“This is not a high production area here, yet, here, we can produce a lot of our own food and people can do it on their own, you know, through community gardens or their own gardens,” Thompson said.
He said he’s honored to take over for Kathleen Hadley who has been with NCAT for more than 30 years and served as executive director since 1997. She said she will miss the quality of the people she’s worked with.
“We attract people who serve in Americorp programs, we attract people from the Peace Corp, we attract people who want to serve their communities and it’s the most satisfying work experience I can think of looking back at everything I’ve done is to be able to work with these great people,” said Hadley.
Continuing the mission of service. The NCAT board will also name the building off of Continental Drive after Hadley for her years of service.
