Georgia Magazine - August 2021 - 15

SHORTTakes
FFA wiring contest held
T
his year's EMC/FFA
Electrification
Career Development
Event was held April 17 at the
Georgia FFA-FCCLA Center in
Covington with new pandemic
guidelines in place. Half of the
12 finalists competed in the
morning and the other half in
the afternoon.
Daniel Durrence of
Colquitt County FFA (adviser
Will Burt) won with a high
score of 84.006. Brad Stringer
of East Jackson FFA (adviser
Greg Gilman) placed second, and Ethan Parks of
Bleckley County FFA (adviser Walt Parks) placed
third. The 12 state contestants earned scholarship
funds for their participation.
Volunteers from Georgia's electric memberDaniel
Durrence, right, won this
year's EMC/FFA Electrifi cation
Career Development Event. His
Colquitt County FFA adviser is
Will Burt.
ship cooperatives (EMCs) were Bruce Bailey
(Colquitt EMC, Moultrie); Matthew Denton (Flint Energies, Reynolds); Chipper Jones
and Sylandi Brown (Middle Georgia EMC, Vienna); Phil Bearden (Ocmulgee EMC,
Eastman); Randy Hill (Planters EMC, Millen); Ken Ellington, Brent Meredith and Keith
Adams (Snapping Shoals EMC, Covington); Josh Hendricks (Southern Rivers Energy,
Barnesville); and Jeff Paul (Walton EMC, Monroe).
A whole new ballgame
Recognizing a champion: Jennie Lacey,
manager of cooperative communications at
Reynolds-based Flint Energies, was named
the 2021 Touchstone Energy Cooperatives
Brand Champion. The national award honors
those who embody Touchstone Energy's core
values of innovation, integrity, accountability
and commitment to community while building
the Touchstone Energy brand. Arlington,
Va.-based Touchstone Energy represents a
national network of electric cooperatives.
Lineworker support: Sawnee Electric
Membership Corp. (EMC) in Cumming in June
approved $1,546 for two lineworkers through
the Brian Johnson Memorial Scholarship
program. The scholarships will pay the
balance for two students, Coley Loudermilk
and Thomas Trudnak, to receive their lineworker
certifi cation from North Georgia
Technical College, which off ers the program
at its Blairsville and Clarkesville campuses.
The scholarship honors the memory of
Johnson, a Sawnee EMC lineman who died
at age 27 in a tree-cutting accident in 2015.
LaGrange-based Diverse Power, the Diverse Power Foundation and CoBank recently presented
a donation totaling $27,500 to help fund the construction of an accessible, inclusive athletic
complex to be used by The Miracle League of LaGrange. (For more information, see
miracleleagueofl agrange.com.) A portion of this donation will be triple-matched by the
Callaway Foundation and other donors to total $95,000. The entrance to the complex will be
on Tom Hall Parkway in LaGrange. To learn more about The Miracle League, see the story in
the May 2019 issue of Georgia Magazine at bit.ly/0519miracleleague. From left are Ken Pope,
Diverse Power residential services marketing coordinator; Jill Moore, The Miracle League
inclusive play specialist; John Cipolla, Lafayette Christian School superintendent of schools;
Stephanie Davis, The Miracle League vice president of national programs; and Dale Jackson,
chairman of the LaGrange Troup County Chamber of Commerce Executive Committee.
Lights of the community: Colquitt EMC
in Moultrie was a silver sponsor for the
American Cancer Society's Relay For Life
event in Colquitt County. This year, the
fundraiser was a drive-through luminary
ceremony in front of the Colquitt County
Agricultural Complex on April 30. The event
raised $29,651 for the society's mission to
raise awareness of and fi ght cancer and to
support those dealing with the disease.
Camp funds: Okefenoke REMC in Nahunta
donated $3,000 to Georgia Lions Camp for
the Blind in Waycross at its annual car-show
fundraiser on Feb. 20. Georgia Lions Camp for
the Blind has off ered annual summer camps
for the visually impaired since 1976.
www.georgiamagazine.org
15
NIKI CADENHEAD / DIVERSE POWER
SYLANDI BROWN
COURTESY FLINT ENERGIES

http://www.miracleleagueoflagrange.com http://www.bit.ly/0519miracleleague http://www.georgiamagazine.org

Georgia Magazine - August 2021

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