HASLETT, MI - Last August, the Haslett Community Church paid 465 dollars for their electrical bill. However this August was a little different.

“This year we paid 63 dollars,” said Pastor Kurt Kirchoff.

Not only are they saving money, but they're saving the environment as well, and it's all due to their new solar panels.

“We wanted to do something positive to kind of decrease our carbon footprint,” said Richard Baumgartner, the Chairman of the Haslett Community Church Green Team.

These 68 panels have been up and running since this past July and produce 20,000 watts of electricity.

“The Green Team really decided to go ahead and bring together people who had come to those meetings and shown interest in going green, talked with them about this particular project,” said Kirchoff.

The project cost 59,400 dollars and was funded through donations from within the church and from outside through the community.

But for the Haslett Community Church, the solar panel project has a deeper meaning.

“We did this as our Joyce Martel memorial solar project. Joyce was a long time member of our church who died recently but she was our first and foremost environmental leader so this was done in memory of her,” said Kirchoff.