With Thanksgiving just around the corner, I’d like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude for your membership and support of Trinity Valley Electric Cooperative. And this is no offhand or perfunctory thanks: Because of your connection to TVEC, we are able to make our community a better place. It might sound trite if it weren’t so true.
In the spirit of this month’s holiday, I think it’s important to let our members know just what an impact you have on our co-op and the greater community, likely in ways you may not even realize.
As a cooperative, one of our core principles is Concern for Community. While our priority is always to provide safe, reliable and affordable energy, we also seek to be a catalyst for good. We are purposeful in partnering with local groups, such as volunteer fire departments, who share our commitment to enriching our community’s safety and quality of life.
Another cooperative principle we work to amplify is Education, Training and Information. We espouse this principle by working closely with area schools to provide safety demonstrations and award college scholarships, and by sponsoring some of our community’s brightest young people on the annual Government-in-Action Youth Tour.
Youth Tour sends teens from cooperatives around Texas and the nation to Washington, D.C., each June for a week of immersion in democracy in action. The trip is life-changing for many students, and we are humbled and honored to be part of this golden opportunity.
These investments in our community wouldn’t be possible without you. You empower the co-op through your membership and through your participation in and patronage of these programs. When you attend co-op events—particularly the annual meeting—and alert us to problems or give kudos, or provide suggestions online or to our employees, you help us improve our operations and, ultimately, better serve the entire membership.
Because we are locally governed, TVEC has a firsthand perspective on community priorities, which enables us to make reasoned decisions about long-term and infrastructure investments, including considerations of whether certain projects are a timely fit for our membership.
I’m thankful for our board members’ willingness to carve out time to attend important training sessions, participate in planning meetings and keep abreast of industry trends. Their time is well spent, as it results in better informed advisers who serve the co-op’s interests in a way that our members expect and deserve.
On a more personal note, we appreciate the countless acts of kindness our lineworkers and other employees receive when they are working in severe weather or its aftermath. Our employees are thankful for your patience, care and concern while they work to restore power during prolonged outages amid challenging conditions.
TVEC was established more than 80 years ago to bring electricity to our area when no one else would. The cooperative is a reflection of our community and its evolving needs. Together, let’s continue making our corner of the world a better place. We can’t do it without you, and for that reason and many others, we’re thankful for your membership.
