Cooperative employee volunteers pose with Arkansas State Spelling Bee champion Ryan Fan (center) of Fayetteville. Photo by Kyle Dollarhite.
Category: Editor's Welcome

Electric cooperative employees wear many hats, and not just hardhats.

Not only do these professionals perform a variety of duties at work, they often dedicate their time to performing civic duties. After all, it’s just the cooperative way.

Cooperatives around the world operate according to the same set of core principles, among them are “Concern for Community” and “Cooperation Among Cooperatives.” Not only do employees “work for the sustainable development of their communities through policies supported by the membership,” they come together and work together.

There was much coming together and working together in recent months. Employees from some of our 17 distribution cooperatives — as well as Today’s Power, Inc. (a wholly owned subsidiary of Arkansas Electric Cooperatives, Inc., which also publishes Arkansas Living) — recently traveled from various parts of the state to Little Rock to assist with two youth programs sponsored by the Electric Cooperatives of Arkansas. They are the Arkansas SeaPerch Challenge and the Arkansas State Spelling Bee.

Our co-op families’ servant hearts, assistance and smiles make every situation more efficient and more fun.

And the same can be said for our statewide team of cooperative communicators who work with Arkansas Living. Contributing to the magazine is just a fraction of the challenging jobs that our cooperative colleagues do. We’d like to acknowledge them here.

Our hats off to these many-hat wearers:

Barbara Jenkins, Arkansas Valley Electric

Rodney Chapman, Ashley-Chicot Electric

Mike Berry and Christy Tucker, C & L Electric

Claudia Harp and Cory Smith, Carroll Electric

Molly Jett, Clay County Electric

Jon David Carmack and Marti Hook, Craighead Electric

Brynn Bowen, Farmers Electric

Tonya Sexton, First Electric

Brad Harrison and Angie Hamm, Mississippi County Electric

Tori Moss, North Arkansas Electric

Kari Strickland and Sabrina Estridge, Ouachita Electric

Erin Rogers and Bridgette Caples, Ozarks Electric

Tonia Robbins, Petit Jean Electric

Chris Parker, Rich Mountain Electric

Sandy Manning, South Central Arkansas Electric

Rhonda Morrow, Southwest Arkansas Electric

Anna Howton, Woodruff Electric

 

Have a marvelous May!

Jennifer Christman Cia