Supporting Local Causes

Tailgating for schools
PAINTSVILLE
Big Sandy Rural Electric Cooperative again sponsored the Touchstone Energy Bowl. For the eighth year, the cooperative played host to a massive tailgating party, with inflatables, food, and music that attracted almost 500 people.

“We were established in 1940 to be not only a cooperative that provides reliable and affordable electricity to people in rural areas,” says Manager of Member Services and Public Relations Bruce Aaron Davis, “but to be a cornerstone of the community. We believe an investment in our children is the best investment we can make.”

Proceeds go to all the athletic programs at Johnson County Schools.

Fund-raising scarecrows
WINCHESTER
Despite their name, they aren’t very scary, but they do scare up a sizable sum each year for STRIDE–Supporting Therapeutic Recreation for Individuals with Disabilities. Among the scarecrows at the annual Beech Springs Market Scarecrow Festival is always one donated by Clark Energy Cooperative.

“Clark Energy is always looking for ways to get involved in our local communities and support local people and programs,” says Paul Embs, president and CEO of Clark Energy Co-op. “STRIDE is a longstanding community-based organization that changes lives every day. We are happy to be a part of this group’s amazing work that touches people in several counties in our service area.”

Honoring a cooperator
LOUISVILLE
The Kentucky Association of Electric Cooperatives honored a Louisville pastor, who was raised in Christian County, with its annual Distinguished Rural Kentuckian award at the KAEC annual meeting in November.

The award recognized Dr. Lincoln Bingham, senior pastor at St. Paul Baptist Church in Louisville, for a lifetime of working with diverse church groups across the state. Especially notable was his role in a merger of a church with a mainly white congregation with another church with a mainly African-American congregation, strengthening both Louisville churches.