Electric cooperatives throughout the nation are finding innovative ways to show their commitment to community during the coronavirus pandemic.
Their efforts include whipping up homemade hand sanitizer, sewing face masks, honoring health care workers, providing free public Wi-Fi hotspots and feeding the hungry.
Here’s a sampling of how co-ops have responded.
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Photo Gallery: COVID-19 Co-op Response
Barry Electric Cooperative field technician Mike Dutton installs Wi-Fi extenders to utility poles for local schools so that students have access to free Wi-Fi. (Photo By: Barry Electric Cooperative)
Mohave Electric Cooperative’s Ardie Lauxman loads up his vehicle with meals cooked in a local coffeehouse that was converted into a community kitchen. The co-op is helping supply housebound seniors with free home-cooked meals. (Photo By: Anita Gill)
Morgan Lauxman, a volunteer from Mohave Electric Cooperative, helps cook hundreds of meals for homebound seniors in a coffeehouse-turned-community kitchen. (Photo By: Anita Gill)
Richland Electric Co-op members attend the Wisconsin’s first drive-in annual meeting by staying in their cars and voting by honking their horns. (Photo By: Alexis Dunnum/NRECA)
With students sent home because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Arkansas’s Elkins School District needed to make sure their students had a way to connect to the internet to complete their coursework. The district set up several school buses parked around the district with Wi-Fi equipment and cellular internet connections. ...
Ozark Electric Cooperative employee Guy Gaesswitz attaches a sign for a Wi-Fi hotspot created by the co-op at the Wesley Community building in Arkansas. (Photo by: Erin Rogers/ Ozark Electric)
To show support for the medical professionals serving the frontlines during this pandemic, Carroll EMC staged a bucket truck with a "thank you" banner at the front of Tanner Medical Center in Carrollton, Georgia. (Photo by: Carroll EMC)
Blue Ridge Mountain EMC has provided nine free Wi-Fi hotspots throughout its service territory in North Carolina and Georgia for students, parents, educators and members who are working remotely to use during the COVID-19 pandemic. These Wi-Fi hotspots are fed from its fiber optic network. (Image By: Blue Ridge Mountai...
Southwest Arkansas Electric employees sanitize lobby payment kiosks to keep members safe when they make payments. (Photo by: Southwest Arkansas Electric)
Terry Lang, a power plant operator for East Kentucky Power Cooperative and former hospital nursing aide, has been sewing cloth face masks for health care workers. She has made more than 150 masks for hospitals, nursing homes, home health agencies and co-workers. "In such a dark time, it is so uplifting to see the commu...
Glades Electric Cooperative held their annual Good Friday Ham Giveaway at their headquarters in Moore Haven, Florida, with a drive-through line. Communications Specialist Tahlia Warrick holds a sign directing members through this year’s pick-up process. (Photo By: Jennifer Koukos/Glades Electric Cooperative)
Gulf Coast Electric Cooperative sends their line crews out with signs to place around their worksites, asking people to please stay back to keep employees and themselves safe and healthy. (Photo By: Chad Brockin/Gulf Coast EC)
Nobles Electric Cooperative in Worthington, Minnesota, decorated their office windows to brighten the community’s day. (Photo By: Nobles Electric Cooperative)
Lexie Little and April Johnson of Utah’s Garkane Energy make their own brand of hand cleanser, called Garka-Guard, amidst the shortage brought on by the pandemic. (Photo By: Garkane Energy)
An emergency grant from Peace River Electric Cooperative’s Operation Round Up Foundation will help a Salvation Army chapter in Florida buy meals to meet a spike in demand during the COVID-19 pandemic. (Photo By: Kelly French)
With Peace River’s donation, the local Salvation Army can feed the hungry. (Photo By: Kelly French)
Employees and their families from Virginia’s Southside Electric Cooperative are doing their part to help the local community. Kathleen White, wife of SEC’s Public and Member Relations Vice President Ron White, sews masks for a local assisted living facility. (Photo By: Jennifer Wall/SEC)
Southside Electric Cooperative’s Community Relations Coordinator Joy Stump sewed masks for use by an assisted living facility in the Virginia co-op’s service territory. (Photo By: Jennifer Wall/SEC)
Hendricks Power Cooperative in central Indiana uses the Commitment to Zero graphics to thank their lineworkers with a sign outside of their headquarters. (Photo By: Dana Cochran/Hendricks Power Cooperative)
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