Keeping everyone informed
At Wiregrass Electric Cooperative, we believe having an informed public strengthens our nation, our state, our counties and our cooperative. That’s why we strive in this magazine to be transparent about the challenges and opportunities we face, why we use social media platforms and other media to provide constant updates during inclement weather and why we post the minutes of our board meetings to our website.
An informed citizenry — and in a cooperative’s case, an informed membership — makes better decisions. With a better understanding of our past and present, we will have a clearer vision of our future. In fact, educating the membership is one of seven principles each electric cooperative promises to do as part of their operations.
That is why we’re proud to sponsor the Youth Tour program yearly. For more than 50 years, we have selected several area high school juniors to participate in this program that teaches them finer details of American history, government and the history of electric cooperatives. For the past two years, we have created a local Youth Tour event that provides further insight into how we provide power to more than 26,000 meters in our rural area.
The 20 delegates who have participated in the last two Youth Tour events represent some of the brightest students our area has to offer. They have gained a firsthand glimpse into how our local and state governments work through discussions with state Sen. Donnie Chesteen and state Reps. Paul Lee and Jeff Sorrells. Inspiring local business leaders have imparted wisdom to them, sharpening their leadership skills.
We’ve guided them on tours through our headquarters, and they have learned how we track, monitor and respond to outages.
While these students aren’t officially members of our cooperative — their parents or guardians are — we believe this investment is worthwhile. They might be members in the future, ones with a better understanding of our operations and our needs. They most certainly are future leaders, whether here or elsewhere, who can guide from a better knowledge base since they experienced the Youth Tour program.
In this magazine, we highlight this year’s Youth Tour event. We hope you’ll read the article, discover what some delegates say they learned during the event and celebrate that you, as a membership, support this effort. We cannot do this event without the money you entrust to us or the guidance you provide to us.
Keeping everyone, including teenagers, informed — this is another way Wiregrass Electric Cooperative is Working for Everyone.
Les Moreland
CEO Wiregrass Electric Cooperative