Cooperative Living May 2021 - 38

Co-opPrinciples | by Andrew V3orn, Contributing Columnist
Look for the Storm Soldiers
The spirit of community is alive and well
in the cooperative movement
r. Rogers once said, " When
I was a boy and I would see
scary things in the news, my
mother would say to me, 'Look for the
helpers. You will always find people
who are helping.' "
During times of crisis, sorrow or
suffering, there are always folks
working around the edges trying to
make things easier, kinder or simply
better. They may not be out front in
the spotlight, but they are there. That
sentiment exists in your cooperative
family and is on full display following
natural disasters.
RESTORATION CHALLENGES
In February, winter ice storms
decimated the electric grid in Central
and Southside Virginia. Co-ops from
across the country sent convoys of
helpers - bucket trucks and digger
derricks loaded with line workers to
hamlets and villages across the state.
They joined a small army of line crews
working to reconstruct an electric
grid that took 80 years to build. In
the middle of a raging pandemic, these
Storm Soldiers left their families to
sleep in mobile bunkhouses. They
worked in miserable conditions -
in mud and muck, in rain, wind,
snow and ice - to bring back power
to tens of thousands of people they
will never meet.
Restoring power in rural areas has
always presented unique complications
and obstacles that do not exist in
densely populated suburban areas.
That's why investor-owned utilities
did not build out electricity to rural
M
Workers bring
in specialized
vehicles to haul
replacement
poles a mile or
more during
the recent
winter storm.
One of the
seven cooperative
principles -
cooperation among
cooperatives.
America in the first place. There are
more poles and wires between fewer
homes that run through miles of
wooded area instead of along the road.
The privacy and solace that we enjoy
in rural America means that the logistics
of restoring power to rural areas can
take longer. In some instances, poles
must be pulled hundreds of yards
across a right-of-way, one at a time,
by a track machine. These types of
conditions make a normal, four-hour
job into an eight-hour job.
TEAMWORK COUNTS
Following a storm, when you
look for the Storm Soldiers, you will
see the men and women of not only
your cooperative, but cooperatives
from across America. One of the
original seven cooperative principles
is Cooperation among Cooperatives.
Following a storm, that principle is
realized in the mutual-aid agreements
already in place that enable cooperative
crews to come in and work as a team
to get the lights back on.
But mutual aid is more than just
crews on the ground. It is also
community members providing meals
and bringing supplies, keeping the
restoration effort going. In times of
crisis, our communities keep us going.
The sacrifice was not only in the rightof-way,
but also in the church parking
lot, the front yards of homes and
schools where you set up snack tables
with food and hot coffee for
lineworkers to fuel up on their breaks.
This community support fuels these
folks as much as their meals.
Time and time again the cooperative
principle of Concern for Community
has proven to be a two-way street.
When you look for the Storm Soldiers,
you will see the men and women of
your electric cooperative. Know that
they see you helping, too. ■
36 | Cooperative Living | May 2021
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Cooperative Living May 2021

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