PORT WASHINGTON, Wis. — Three technology companies behind a controversial data center campus are collectively donating $150,000 to Ozaukee County first responders, and Mel's Charities is contributing an additional $25,000 — bringing the total to $175,000, the largest grant donation in the organization's history.
Vantage, Oracle and OpenAI, the companies behind the "Lighthouse" data center complex planned for Port Washington, are each giving $50,000.
The money will help local fire departments and law enforcement agencies purchase equipment they have long needed but lacked the funding to buy, including barriers for protecting parades and public events.
Tom "Mel" Stanton, founder of Mel's Charities, said the program is designed to outlast a single donation cycle.
"I think the big point here is this isn't a one-and-done," Stanton said. "You know, this grant program is something that we want to sustain for years to come."
Officers and firefighters gathered this week to celebrate the investment. The grant will cover barriers departments previously had to improvise — at times pressing fire trucks into service as substitutes.
"In the past, they might need to use their own fire trucks, or things they might need the day of," Stanton said.
Every fire department in Ozaukee County will also receive a thermal imaging camera, a tool that allows firefighters to scan a room for heat signatures and locate victims inside burning buildings without having to feel their way through the space blindly.
Port Washington Fire Chief Joe DeBoer said the cameras could prove critical in life-or-death situations.
"Absolutely ... Instead of crawling, feeling every surface, you can scan that room with a camera that detects heat, so we can find the victim that much faster," DeBoer said.
But not everyone views the investment as a genuine act of goodwill. Residents have told reporters they harbor deep resentment toward the data center campus, with some saying the donations have left them feeling more targeted than supported.
"We're not here to discuss the data center," Stanton said. "We're here to discuss how Mel's Charities, with this grant, that's going to be sustainable, is going to impact lives throughout Ozaukee County."
The grant program is not the only effort underway to shape perceptions of the "Lighthouse" project. According to a news release from Oracle, the company is partnering with developer Vantage on a commercial that highlights what it calls "responsible development."
The ad campaign is running in southeast Wisconsin and comes amid growing national backlash to data center development. TMJ4 reporter Alex Gaul, who covers Ozaukee County full time, has encountered those ads at least six times in the last week and a half across multiple social media platforms.
As construction continues, legal challenges remain unresolved and the broader debate over data centers goes on, TMJ4 News will continue asking questions about the project's impact on Ozaukee County.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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