Electric Co-op Today

Two months after Withlacoochee River Electric Cooperative’s Visioning Day, there are more signs of progress in its efforts to revive two distressed communities.

Withlacoochee River EC’s David Lambert and daughter Taylor help to clean up Lacoochee along with local residents Cathy Beverly (in Rays shirt) and Tammy Wheeler (at wheelbarrow). (Photo By: Richard K. Riley)

Lacoochee, Fla., and neighboring Trilby are now on a federal list of Signature Projects in the southeast region. “They will get points over any other community on a grant because of the targeted need for that area,” said David Lambert, manager of member relations at the Dade City, Fla.-based co-op.

That step alone, Lambert said, is just one accomplishment stemming from the July 28 event for representatives of federal, state and local governments, charitable groups and the media. A bus tour brought participants face to face with the despair in the two communities, which have been in decline for a half-century.

In crime-riddled Lacoochee Park, the Florida Division of Forestry came in this month and spent weeks cleaning up and repairing roads, bringing in “truckload after truckload” of materials. “Some of the potholes were 12-, 13-feet deep,” Lambert said.

A PLACE TO CALL HOME

A dusty lot where the “Dirt Road Kids” met visitors on horseback last summer is on the verge of revival. In December, construction will begin on the first eight homes to go up there.

“There’s a total of 50 new homes,” Lambert said of the project. Funding will come from money that Pasco County has made available. And already there are prospective purchasers.

“We had a USDA/Habitat for Humanity workshop,” Lambert said. The well-attended event “was like a school on how to get your finances in order, to qualify for a low-interest loan from USDA to get a home.”

In addition, community meetings are now held every third Monday night, where Lambert said the co-op continues to drill home a key point to residents.

“We tell them, ‘We want it for you, but you’ve got to want it ten times worse than we want it for you.’ And that’s how they have gotten involved and started cleaning the community.”

Tags: Co-op News, Commitment to Community, Local Initiatives