The Cannon Foundation has donated $100,000 for a new air conditioning unit for Building 9 of Beaufort County Community College. Installation of the new unit was completed on Aug. 15. The final grant amount is slightly more than the $96,500 the college had requested and helps fund a significant portion of the new unit.

The new unit replaces a 1993 model that was leaking and had obsolete controls. The new unit will also save the college, and county taxpayers, about $10,000 a year in electricity costs. The new unit is 20 percent more efficient than the old unit. BCCC has a long-range plan in place to replace the oldest and least efficient units on campus. These units are generally louder than newer available units, waste electricity and require thousands of dollars a year in temporary repairs and replacement parts.

Building 9 houses a number of student services offices, including counseling and financial aid, as well as broadcast classrooms for remote locations. The student lounge and multiple lecture halls are also in Building 9.

The Cannon Foundation is an independent foundation established in 1943 by Charles A. Cannon, president and chairman of Cannon Mills Company for more than 50 years.

Cannon was born in Concord, N.C., and built the Cannon Mills Company into a household name. A main focus of the foundation is supporting higher education.