This year has been interesting, and I know it has been trying for many. As we approach the Thanksgiving season, it is an appropriate time to reflect on the reasons we each have for gratitude in our lives, even when times are trying.
I want to use this space to share why I am thankful for Medina Electric Cooperative and all that goes along with the cooperative way of doing business.
I am thankful for Medina EC because it provides safe, reliable and affordable electricity to our members. Electricity is a vital part of our modern lives, providing heating and cooling, lighting, convenience in cooking, power sources for technology—which has been needed more than ever with many working and learning from home—and more.
I’m grateful to be part of an organization that endeavors to make a difference in people’s lives. We provide power to our members and improve the quality of their lives. In turn, those members empower the lives of others through programs like Operation Round Up, in which co-op members can round up their electric bills and contribute to a fund that helps their neighbors during hardships.
I am grateful that people in our community saw the need to form Medina EC in the 1930s. They saw the value in serving rural residents when investor-owned utilities would not even consider stringing immense quantities of line over many miles to provide electricity to a few, spread-out connections. The co-op saw them not just as connections but as people and knew electricity would improve their lives.
I’m glad that Medina EC employs members of the community, providing them with careers with meaning and utilizing their knowledge of the needs of the local communities to help those areas continue to prosper. I’m grateful for a job where I have co-workers who are focused on providing excellent service to members.
I’m pleased, too, that we support the community in other economic and charitable ways. Our payment of state and local taxes benefits all local residents, as tax money goes toward shared services.
Additionally, the co-op makes donations totaling around $65,000 to various local organizations each year. Employees also give their time to many of those same organizations.
I am proud that we provide the Co-op Connections card, a discount card to help members save money on purchases from local and national retailers and on prescriptions, especially during a time when many may have lost their normal health insurance (learn more at MedinaEC.org/Connections).
Most of all, I’m thankful for each and every co-op member who makes possible the continuation of Medina EC—this important business and community supporter. I wish you and yours a happy Thanksgiving, and I hope you will each take the time this season to reflect on your own reasons for gratitude.
