When giving isn’t seasonal

As the hol­i­day sea­son approach­es and the air turns crisp, we’re remind­ed that this tru­ly is the sea­son of giv­ing. It’s a time for grat­i­tude, gen­eros­i­ty and look­ing out for one anoth­er— and at Coastal Elec­tric Coop­er­a­tive, that’s some­thing we take to heart year-round.

You’ve prob­a­bly heard us talk about our con­cern for com­mu­ni­ty. It’s not just a nice phrase; it’s one of the core prin­ci­ples (Coop­er­a­tive Prin­ci­ple No. 7, to be exact) that makes elec­tric coop­er­a­tives like ours dif­fer­ent from oth­er util­i­ties. We’re not just here to keep the lights on, though, we’re always work­ing hard to do that. We’re here to make life bet­ter for the peo­ple we serve—our mem­bers, our neigh­bors and our friends.

Over the years, we’ve faced chal­lenges togeth­er, and every time, our co-op fam­i­ly has stepped up. We’ve come togeth­er to sup­port those in need, to keep our com­mu­ni­ty strong and to build some­thing bet­ter for the future. That spir­it of gen­eros­i­ty is nev­er more evi­dent than dur­ing the hol­i­day sea­son.

Take our Oper­a­tion Round Up pro­gram, for exam­ple. Thanks to the gen­eros­i­ty of mem­bers like you who round up their elec­tric bills to the near­est dol­lar each month, we’re able to pro­vide real help to local fam­i­lies in need and orga­ni­za­tions mak­ing life bet­ter for the peo­ple in our com­mu­ni­ty.

Those nick­els and dimes round­ed up by YOU, our mem­bers, are pooled togeth­er and donat­ed to the Coastal Elec­tric Coop­er­a­tive Foun­da­tion, where a vol­un­teer board of mem­bers just like you gets togeth­er and makes deci­sions to invest those funds right here at home to ben­e­fit folks in Bryan, Lib­er­ty, Long and McIn­tosh coun­ties. Every lit­tle bit adds up—and it makes a big dif­fer­ence.

How big of a dif­fer­ence? Though impact can’t be mea­sured by num­bers alone, in 2024, Coastal Elec­tric Coop­er­a­tive mem­bers con­tributed $91,263 through Oper­a­tion Round Up to be invest­ed back into the com­mu­ni­ty.

Just last year, the Coastal Elec­tric Coop­er­a­tive Foun­da­tion award­ed:

• $135,100 to assist local agen­cies and indi­vid­u­als.

• $144,200 in schol­ar­ships to local stu­dents.

• $42,303 in Bright Ideas edu­ca­tion grants to local teach­ers.

• $24,000 to local prin­ci­pals to use toward the well-being of stu­dents and fac­ul­ty.

When you’re a mem­ber and own­er of an elec­tric coop­er­a­tive, you play a role in every­thing we do to invest in this place we call home. Car­ing for our com­mu­ni­ty takes all of us.

We’re also proud to sup­port local stu­dents through the Wash­ing­ton Youth Tour pro­gram, where we send some of our community’s bright­est young peo­ple to Wash­ing­ton, D.C., to see democ­ra­cy in action and dream big about their futures. That’s giv­ing in the most mean­ing­ful way—by invest­ing in tomorrow’s lead­ers.

And because we care deeply about safe­ty, we also spend time vis­it­ing schools through­out the com­mu­ni­ties we serve, hold­ing demon­stra­tions and teach­ing folks of all ages how to stay safe around elec­tric­i­ty. We believe knowl­edge is a gift, too, and we love shar­ing it.

You’ll also find our team out in the com­mu­ni­ty beyond work—coaching youth sports, vol­un­teer­ing at local events, serv­ing on non­prof­it boards and part­ner­ing with our cham­bers of com­merce to keep our local econ­o­my strong. Because when you’re part of a co-op, giv­ing back isn’t a require­ment; it’s just what you do. And we are proud that our mem­bers are out here in the com­mu­ni­ty giv­ing back right along­side us.

While the hol­i­day sea­son is a fes­tive time, we under­stand these can be tough times for many. If you need advice on sav­ing ener­gy to reduce your ener­gy bills, need assis­tance or sim­ply have ques­tions, please don’t hes­i­tate to reach out. We’re here to help, not just dur­ing the hol­i­day sea­son, but all year long.

At Coastal Elec­tric Coop­er­a­tive, we believe con­cern for com­mu­ni­ty is more than a value—it’s the heart of who we are. And dur­ing this sea­son of giv­ing, we’re espe­cial­ly grate­ful to be part of such a car­ing, gen­er­ous com­mu­ni­ty.

From all of us at Coastal Elec­tric Coop­er­a­tive, we wish you and your loved ones a joy­ful, safe and bright hol­i­day sea­son!