Our One Percent Pledge: Backup Power for the Homes of the People Who Respond

Zimick Electric directs one percent of its revenue to Ripple Foundation, the New Jersey charitable trust that runs the Lifeline Power Initiative (about us). The program puts permanent standby power at the homes of active emergency responders. This post explains why that matters, how the program works, and how the work we do for our clients connects to it.

The problem the program is built around

When a big storm takes out the grid, the people who respond to it leave their own homes in the dark. Their families stay behind with no heat, no lights and no sump pump, often for days.

That is not a small number of homes. After Superstorm Sandy, outages in New Jersey peaked at 2,615,291 customers, 65 percent of the state. On November 7, ten days after landfall, 10 percent were still out (Maryland Public Service Commission, Hurricane Sandy Multi-State Outage and Restoration Report). Tropical Storm Isaias left more than 1.3 million New Jersey customers without power at its peak on August 4, 2020 (NJ Board of Public Utilities staff report).

The research on what that does to a responder is consistent. In a survey of 6,428 health care workers at 47 facilities in the New York metropolitan region, 80 percent said they were willing to report to work during a severe snow storm, but only 49 percent said they would be able to (Qureshi et al., Journal of Urban Health, 2005). FEMA's guidance for responders puts it directly: without preparing themselves and their families in advance, responders "will be hindered in their ability to perform their jobs when a disaster strikes, and will instead be focused on personal and family safety" (FEMA Ready Responder Toolkit).

The gap between willing and able is not about commitment. It is about who is looking after the house.

What the Lifeline Power Initiative does

Lifeline Power is a program of Ripple Foundation, not a separate organization (Lifeline Power, About). It installs a permanent standby generator at a responder's home. A standby generator is a fixed unit on a pad outside the house, connected to a gas line. When the utility fails, an automatic transfer switch, the device that moves the house from utility power to the generator, starts it without anyone needing to be home.

The foundation publishes its own cost estimate for a typical 14 kW installation in northern New Jersey: $9,000 for the generator package, $1,800 to $3,500 for gas piping, $3,500 to $6,000 for the electrical installation, permits from $150, and site restoration that varies by property. The typical total is $14,500 to $18,500 (Lifeline Power). That is a large share of a responder's pay. The May 2023 annual mean wage for an emergency medical technician in New Jersey was $48,470 (BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, New Jersey).

Who qualifies

The program publishes four requirements, and an applicant has to meet all of them (Lifeline Power, Eligibility):

Active emergency response service. EMT, paramedic, career or volunteer firefighter, law enforcement officer or emergency dispatcher with an identifiable agency.
Subject to call-back or on-call response. The household is actually left behind during an emergency.
Owner-occupied primary residence. The applicant owns and lives in the home.
Within the service area. New Jersey, with early installations concentrated in Bergen County and nearby towns.

A selection committee reviews complete, verified applications against those criteria, and applying is not a promise of selection (Lifeline Power, Eligibility).

How the program is run

Ripple Foundation is recognized by the IRS as a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization and is classified as a private foundation (Lifeline Power, About). A private foundation is a charity funded mainly by a small group of donors, and federal tax law strictly limits any dealings between it and the people and companies connected to it. The program's public pages spell out how that shapes the work:

Installers are paid. Every labor hour is paid at full scale, with payroll taxes, workers' compensation and benefits covered (Lifeline Power, Accountability).
Related households cannot apply. Trustees' family members, foundation staff, large donors and owners of Zimick Electric or Zimick Brothers Cleaning Service are ineligible, as federal law requires (Lifeline Power, Eligibility).
Gifts cannot be earmarked. A donation funds the next household on the list, not a named person or family (Lifeline Power, Give).

Where Zimick Electric fits

Zimick Electric is a donor. One percent of revenue goes to the foundation, so the work we do for commercial clients helps fund the work the foundation does for responders (about us). Zimick Electric does not bill the foundation. Lou Zimick gives his own time to design and coordinate the projects, and the electric and gas installers who do the field work are paid for it.

The standard behind that design work is the same one we bring to every job. Load study first and early utility coordination, so the equipment is sized to what the building really needs. A clean closeout package, so the owner knows what was installed. Standby power is part of our power systems work, from a pad-mounted 60 kW set with an automatic transfer switch, load-tested at completion (our project work), to residential systems (our services). Zimick Electric is an IBEW Local 164 signatory contractor under New Jersey Electrical Contractor License 34EB01813400, Business Permit 18134.

How you can help

Give. Donations go through the foundation's giving page. Contributions are tax deductible to the extent allowed by law.
Refer a responder. If you know an EMT, firefighter, officer or dispatcher who fits the criteria, send them to the eligibility page and the application. Department leaders are welcome to share it with their members.
Hire us. If you have commercial electrical work in Bergen, Hudson, Essex or Passaic County, send us the drawings or call (201) 350-6215. The person who prices your job reads the drawings and answers the phone.

Sourcing note: Program, eligibility, governance and cost details come from the Lifeline Power Initiative's home, about, eligibility, accountability and giving pages. Outage figures come from the Maryland PSC Sandy report and the NJ BPU Isaias report. Survey figures come from Qureshi et al., and the FEMA quote from the Ready Responder Toolkit. All were read October 19, 2026. Cost figures are the foundation's own estimates and vary by property. This post is informational and is not tax advice.