Electric Co-op Today

An Indiana electric cooperative’s thank you gift to members participating in a holiday drive benefitting a local shelter for domestic abuse victims will reap rewards during the New Year.

Staff from Hendricks Power and Sheltering Wings with boxes of donations. (Photo By: Heather Thompson)

Members of Hendricks Power Cooperative, Avon, Ind., donated enough breakfast and household items to fill two pickup trucks and a van for mothers and their children at Sheltering Wings, a shelter in Danville.

And along with the good feeling that comes from helping those in need, each donor got something in return from the co-op: an energy efficiency kit.

“I am so proud to be part of this community,” said Dana Servaes, director of corporate marketing at Hendricks Power Co-op. “We are an electric utility and want to promote efficiency to our members, but as a co-op we also continuously look for ways to stay involved with the community.”

Each of the 200-plus kits contained caulk, weather- stripping, faucet aerators, gasket covers and compact fluorescent light bulbs.

The timing of the donations of breakfast cereal, paper goods and other items couldn’t have been better because the shelter just expanded to accommodate more families, said Mary Williams, chief development officer.

“We used to be able to house 44 families, and when our doors opened this week, we can now house up to 68,” Williams said. “When I take people on tours of the shelter, I say, ‘Imagine if you have a family of five, how much toilet paper you would go through. Multiply that by 20 or 30, and if there’s 60 or 70 people under one roof…it adds up!’”

The co-op also contributed to the shelter’s capital campaign during the 18-month expansion period when it had to house families in local hotels. “They’ve walked alongside us since our first years,” Williams said. “They’ve been wonderful, really wonderful.”

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Tags: Co-op News, Commitment to Community, Consumer Outreach