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Cooperative members helping outreach effort reach a milestone
This story concludes a series, Showing Our Commitment
By Walter Allread
If Operation Round Up® supporters ever doubt that their "small change makes a big difference," as one of the program's slogans goes, they need to meet Ainslee House.
House is the Director of Tender Hearts Community Outreach, a non-profit organization in York. Tender Hearts operates a thrift store and food bank and offers outreach services for people in need in the York area. This past holiday season, an Operation Round Up grant helped Tender Hearts purchase enough turkeys to feed 700- 900 needy families. "It was just so exciting," House says, "especially when you see the need like we do."
Sometimes local residents don't realize, she notes, that there are more than a few people, right in their midst, who have fallen through the cracks of society. Just outside York, House says, people are living in the woods, in tents. Others live out of their cars.
To find ways to help them, day after day, can be a challenge, but House says community support like the Operation Round Up grant keeps her going. "You think your heart would get hard at some point but it never does," she says. Instead, House positively beams as she describes small victories, like the joy of providing a child clothes they're proud to wear, and when she speaks of her goals for Tender Hearts: "We'd like to set up a welfare-to-work program," House notes.
The good feelings generated by Operation Round Up don't stop with House or her Tender Hearts coworkers. Since its inception in 2000, Operation Round Up has aided hundreds of local people, including those suffering from catastrophic illness or living with long-term disabilities, abused women and other victims of crime and families burned out of their homes.
Saving a life
Dozens of community organizations and local fire departments and law enforcement agencies have also benefited from the generosity of participating York Electric Cooperative members. In one case, their support even saved a life.
In 2004, York Electric presented 23 automatic external defibrillators (AEDs), purchased with an Operation Round Up grant, to fire departments in the co-op's service area. Last summer, one of the AEDs, which can restart the heart during heart failure, was used by York Fire Chief Dominic Manera and firefighter Jordan Austin to keep a woman alive until an ambulance arrived.
"It was the difference," Manera told the (York) Enquirer-Herald. "Without the AED, there was no way she would have survived that day."
Small change, big results
Members who allow their co-op bill to be rounded up to the next dollar contribute an average of just $6 a year. Thanks to strong member support, however, Operation Round Up will likely reach the $1 million mark in local grants this year.
Operation Round Up reflects a principle — commitment to community - that sets electric co-ops apart from other types of power companies, according to co-op President and Chief Executive Officer Paul Basha. "The beauty of Operation Round Up is that it gives our members a simple, easy way to show their commitment, too," he says.
Basha notes that members also serve on the volunteer Trust Board that administers member donations. Appointed by the co-op's own member-elected Board of Trustees, the York Electric Trust meets quarterly to review applications. They handle emergency requests as needed.
Trust Board members include Tammie Anderson, Alberta Anthony, Doris Coltharp, James W. Knox, John W. Nance, Don O'Neal, Margie Smarr, Robert Sutton and Jerry Gardner, Chairman for 2006. Anderson, the newest member of the Trust Board, says she and her husband, Chad, have been rounding up since their co-op first offered the program. It wasn't until she joined the Trust Board, however, that Anderson saw just how much the aid means to recipients.
Restoring hope
"So many people have almost lost hope," she says. "It's great to be able to help restore their hope."
One recipient who stands out for Anderson was a local woman who had undergone an emergency colostomy. "She was in enormous pain. She had driven herself to the hospital emergency room, where she had surgery. She drove herself home after recuperating, too," Anderson notes. "When it came time to remove the colostomy bag, the hospital would not allow her to have the surgery until she paid the remainder of her bill." An emergency grant from Operation Round Up cleared the way.
The woman later sent a thank-you card to the Trust Board, Anderson recalls, "It said, 'This might not have been a big deal for you but it was for me.' "
A cooperative is a community Showing commitment to community is a big deal for York Electric Cooperative, Basha says. In addition to Operation Round Up, other examples include York Electric's support for schools and students through scholarships, sponsorship of the Washington Youth Tour and presentation of electrical safety demonstrations. The co-op's participation in civic organizations, chambers of commerce and economic development alliances also serves a higher purpose, Basha says.
"Our daily job is to provide the most reliable, affordable electric service possible, but our mission is broader: The co-op exists to improve the quality of life for those we serve. Sixty-six years ago this month, back in March 1941, local citizens formed our co-op for just that purpose. Times have changed, and our co-op has evolved with our membership, but our core mission has not changed," he says. "I hope our members recognize that York Electric Cooperative is more than 'just a power company.' A cooperative is a community in itself, one you can be proud to be a part of."
Related Links
Outreach efforts start with those just starting out in life »
Co-op's community connections run deep »
Firefighters use donation to save life »
Letter from Domenic Manera, Fire Chief, City of York »
Firefighters get lifesaving devices, thanks to co-op members »
Operation Round Up »
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