Three Mid-South Synergy linemen volunteered with NRECA International Foundation last summer to help electrify two villages in northern Haiti. The work harkens back to the roots of the electric cooperative program, which began in the 1930s to extend electricity to rural Americans.
Larry Finley, Clayten Owens and Bo Williams spent about three weeks in the villages of Caracol and Jacquezyl. They helped implement a rural electrification plan by building infrastructure, distributing supplies and sharing tips of the trade with locals.
“It reminded me of the stories I have been told about rural America when our local cooperatives were organized,” says Kerry Kelton, general manager of the co-op based in Navasota. “The lives of our current members and the economic health of our service territory is thriving because people banded together to bring electricity to our rural area.”
This was the linemen’s first trip with NRECA International Foundation, a charitable organization and affiliate of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, which partners with U.S. co-ops to provide electricity to poor rural communities in developing nations.
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