I have written a few articles about our cooperative principle of “concern for community.”

Our fair activities this year show that commitment. We celebrated 85 years of business at the annual meeting held in July, which demonstrates another cooperative principle, “democratic member control.”

We gave out donut holes and coffee and visited with many of our members throughout our sponsored day at the fair. We also had a booth in the commercial building all week to showcase our new internet service, Connect — Internet by Jasper County REMC. We always enjoy meeting with our members face-to-face. Thank you to those that stopped by to learn about our new service. This is a large project and we are doing our best to build as fast as we can. We wrapped up fair week with the 4-H livestock and cake auctions to also support our community.

Our anniversary celebration included a display during the fair in the community building with historical memorabilia from Jasper County REMC’s long history. If you viewed the display, you would have noted many items featuring the electric cooperative mascot, Willie Wiredhand. There was also a wide range of equipment that has been used for our electric service. The meters showed the evolution of our technology changes throughout the years. It was a good demonstration of how our industry has changed over time. As we continue to celebrate 85 years of service to our members, I can’t help but wonder what the 100-year display will highlight.

We had our annual meeting on the morning of July 29, and it included a display of electric vehicles. Some of you took the chance to get behind the wheel of an electric vehicle for a short test drive.

The main activity for the event is to conduct a business meeting that includes the election of your directors. Our members serve on a nominating committee and bring forth a set of candidates. We present this slate to be voted on by our members, and this year we had three incumbent directors that retained their board seats. We rounded out the meeting by drawing some bill credits.

Thank you to all of the members that ran for the board and thank you to all of our members that voted — by mail, online or in person.

See photos of our community involvement below.