With Buckhannon now officially tapped as Weyerhaeuser’s third THRIVE community, the $1 million community pledge now moves from the mill yard to the meeting table, where city leaders, nonprofits and company employees will map out long-lasting community projects together.

Weyerhaeuser hosted an informational session on Tuesday after choosing Buckhannon as its third THRIVE location, committing $1 million to the community over several years.

The THRIVE program was established to support Weyerhaeuser communities and encourage growth in rural areas. Katie Hooker, corporate giving manager, said they plan to work with local officials to determine the most beneficial way to allocate the funds.

“We’ll partner with local leaders and local nonprofits, determine what their highest needs are in the community, but also where we can make that the highest impact,” Hooker said. “We select communities based on where our employees live, where our mills or our timberlands or distribution centers are located, and just the most important sites to Weyerhaeuser — and Buckhannon is a great partner for our THRIVE program.”

The program will distribute the funds over several years.

“We are actually still working in our first two communities; this is a multiyear process,” Hooker said. “We selected Zwolle, Louisiana, in 2023, and we have been working alongside them, trying to secure enough funding to get a new water system for the town. We announced Raymond, Washington, last year, and we are still working on formulating our plan for Raymond’s projects.”

The THRIVE program was launched in 2023 to support the rural communities where Weyerhaeuser employees live.

“Weyerhaeuser recognizes that across our footprint, most of our employees live in rural communities, and they give us the license to operate — we wouldn’t be who we are without our rural communities,” Hooker said. “Our CEO said, ‘We want our employees to have a great place to live, a great place to work, and a great, great place to raise their families,’ so that’s the premise behind the THRIVE program.”

Now, Weyerhaeuser representatives and local leaders will start to meet and discuss how to allocate the $1 million in funding.

“Now it’s boots on the ground,” Hooker said. “We start meeting with our local employees, we start meeting with local leadership — the mayor, city council — and we say, ‘What are your highest needs?’ Because Weyerhaeuser doesn’t determine that for you — every rural community is different and has different needs. We work with local leadership and communities to determine what those needs are.”

Buckhannon mayor Robbie Skinner said the city can’t wait to work with Weyerhaeuser.

“This is so exciting to have this in Buckhannon,” Skinner said. “Weyerhaeuser, a worldwide company, chooses communities where they have a footprint to give back to, and we’re just thrilled that Buckhannon was selected to help promote a sustainable, better way of life. It’s going to be huge for us.”

The city has not yet decided which projects it might prioritize for funding, but Skinner said they want it to be something that will last in the long term.

“We’ve talked to some of the folks from Weyerhaeuser about some of our ideas, but we have to drill down on what that’s going to look like and how it’s going to work best through this process,” Skinner said. “They don’t want to just buy things that are going to wear out or age out quickly — technology, obviously, is one of those things that does that — so we’re looking at projects that are more sustainable for the community.”

Skinner said the city plans to collaborate with the county commission, the Upshur County Development Authority and possibly the school system.

“We in Appalachia are sometimes used to big corporations coming in, extracting the resources and then leaving, but Weyerhaeuser has been one of the best partners that any small town could ever have,” Skinner said. “We’re so thankful to them — they not only came here, but they’ve grown here, and this is a testament to the fact they see a future here; they want to be here for the long haul, which is wonderful for us.”

Upshur County Commissioner Doug Bush said the county has plenty of ideas about how to allocate the funds, but more discussions would have to happen before deciding.

“We have all kinds of ideas where we could use some help, and we’re always looking for money for the John C. Allen Regional Hub, but because of our expenses that have gone up, we’ve had to cut back on some of the other nonprofit organizations that are in the community,” Bush said. “I’d like to see some of the senior citizens or our youth benefit from the funds — they seem like they’re the last ones sometimes that are getting funds, and they probably need it the most.”

Bush said he also hopes the recognition from Weyerhaeuser may encourage other businesses to come to the area.

“It’s so exciting. It’s a reward for the employees in our community, the city, even our elected officials who try to promote the area all the time, what we have to offer here in Upshur County,” Bush said. “I’m excited about what it reflects in our employees and what we can offer to other businesses that might come into the area.”

Lance Miller, director of manufacturing for engineered wood products at Weyerhaeuser, said he is proud to be part of a company that gives back to the community where employees live.

“This is a personal passion for me that THRIVE picked the Buckhannon community. I’ve spent 32 years with the company; half of it’s been here in Buckhannon,” Miller said. “I’ve raised my kids here in Upshur County, and it’s really nice to come back and see us invest back in the community, not just with THRIVE, but every year, through our Giving Fund, this mill gives about $50,000 to $55,000 back to the community.”

The Buckhannon mill also holds the record as one of the safest mills in all of Weyerhaeuser.

“The one thing I have really enjoyed with Weyerhaeuser is that it’s a people company; they value people and they give back to the community,” Miller said. “This is one of the safest mills in all of Weyerhaeuser — they actually hit a milestone of three years without an injury, which was unheard of, so that’s pretty impressive.”