CEO’s Message: The Backbone of Our Community

May 2024

Anyone who has worked at an electric cooperative knows a thing or two about what it takes to provide essential services to their community. From the start, the cooperative mission has been about neighbors joining together to do what the private power companies wouldn’t — bring electricity to rural areas.

It’s easy to overlook the hard work and dedication that goes into doing that. Seminole Electric Cooperative, our wholesale power provider, invests a lot of time and effort into generating and transmitting electricity to us. SVEC crews work diligently to maintain and repair our system, even on the hottest days of summer or in the pouring rain, to make sure that electricity reliably makes it to your home.

Despite the enormous effort involved, many of us take electricity for granted. We’ve become so used to having it come on instantly when we flip a light switch or touch the power button on our TV remote that we barely even think about it. Most of us probably never stop to consider where electricity comes from — save for the plug in the wall.

In that way, cooperative employees can identify with farmers in our community. There are few jobs more crucial to the well-being and prosperity of our country than farming. Yet, many of us are unaware of the sacrifices and hard work that go into farming, just as we often take for granted the electricity that powers our homes.

That’s why we are spotlighting a few local farm families that are also SVEC members in this month’s newsletter. The Gaylard, Heijkoop, Keyes and Deas families have all been recognized for their outstanding contributions to farming in the Suwannee Valley. Family-owned farming operations like theirs are unfortunately becoming more and more rare throughout our country, so I hope you’ll take a moment to read their stories. You may even learn something new about the important work farmers like them are doing for all of us.

You can also learn about the Suwannee Pineview Elementary School’s annual Egg Drop Challenge, a favorite event that Suwannee Valley Electric Cooperative has been proud to participate in for 30 years. You’ll also see a short recap of our Annual Meeting, where we were excited to be able to discuss the past year and the outlook for the future of our cooperative with some of you face-to-face.

Finally, you’ll find an updated map of the areas where our Rapid Fiber Internet service is available. Our network is expanding quickly, so be sure to check and see if your home is ready to be connected to high-speed broadband. It’s just one more way we’re proud to make the Suwannee Valley a better place for us all to live.