ALFALFA ELECTRIC COOPERATIVE'S

August 2020 | NUMBER 8 VOLUME 75

Published monthly for our members

HOTLINESPO Box 39, 305 W. 12th, Cherokee, OK 73728 | www.aec.coop

Breaker of hearts and crusher of dreams

Continued on page 2

Shana Read is director of education and training at Kansas Electric Cooperatives where she coordinates the Electric Cooperative Youth Tour for her state and Hawaii, with Kaua'i Island Utility Cooperative's Shelley Paik. Before the COVID-19 pandemic canceled the 2020 Youth Tour, Read was scheduled to accompany 40 students from both states for the week-long trip to Washington, D.C. She was also scheduled to bring 45 students from Kansas and Oklahoma to the annual Cooperative Youth Leadership Camp in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. That event was canceled as well.

Having to tell our student winners that they weren’t

going on the (Youth Tour) trip, I felt like I was a breaker of hearts and a crusher of dreams. It was a very difficult task to tell them that they weren’t getting to go on this life-changing trip. Many students learn about Youth Tour from someone else who went and, normally, that’s a great thing. But this year, I really feel for them because they have an idea of what they are missing. But it’s more important to keep them safe, so I’d do it again in a heartbeat.

The first rumblings about how the pandemic was going to affect our youth programs happened as early as the NRECA Annual Meeting in February when we were in New Orleans. Several of the Youth Tour directors were there, and we were having conversations at that time. In March, the decision was made for the safety of the student delegates and chaperones that it would be irresponsible to have the Youth Tour at this time. You can’t do social distancing on a bus.

It was sad we had to cancel, but I was grateful that we decided as early as we did, from a logistics standpoint. We were able to get a hold of businesses to start requesting refunds before they were forced to close. I would say that I made close to 100 phone calls to vendors to cancel by the time it was said and done. We typically visit anywhere from five to 10 attractions or businesses a day. And then you have the airlines, the two bus companies, the hotels, and a photographer and tour guide who come in for a day. Luckily, most places were very understanding and very accommodating. These are people that we’ve worked with for decades, and they know they’re going to see us again.

Another thing we were challenged with is that even though we’re not having the Washington, D.C., Youth Tour, we still need to select the Youth Leadership Council, which is made up of one student per state. Typically, students apply for YLC well before the trip and we would interview them during their first day in D.C., and then observe them in person for a few days. So, we’ve added a couple new steps. One of them is (for the students) to write an essay about how the pandemic has affected them. Another step will be a virtual meeting with an alumnus of the program.

As far as the Cooperative Youth Leadership Camp, we really wanted to wait to cancel for as long as possible because these student winners have had so much already taken from them. They’re missing their high school graduations, their proms or their final academic or sporting events or musicals.

One of the parents actually emailed me and said, ‘Thank you for keeping the camp as long as you could, because it was a shining light.’ But by the time we canceled the camp, the reaction of the parents and the kids was: ‘We expected this when they canceled the D.C. trip.’

By Victoria A. Rocha, staff writer at NRECA Published June 17, 2020, NRECA e-newsletter

ALTERNATING CURRENTS...

Stanley DillerDistrict 5 Trustee

Continued from page 1They still asked if there was anything

else we could do to still go. One of the girls said, ‘Can we just reschedule it for August?’ Oh, I wish it were that easy.

Each distribution co-op participating in our youth

programs is honoring their youth winners with scholarships,

donations to community projects, or even allowing students to reapply for next year, even if they have aged out.

The closest we’ve ever come to this in my 20 years of Youth Tour was right after 9/11. We had several months before Youth Tour to emotionally recover from the attack. I remember that we had discussions with parents to say, ‘Do you have any concerns about sending your child with us to the U.S. Capitol?’ And not only did they not have concerns, but they found it even more important for their students to go and experience

more than what they were able to offer back home. So, we made a point of taking our students to the Pentagon Memorial park after it opened and talking about that event.

But I do remember after those first couple of years, there weren’t the crowds and the lines, and things were sparsely visited because there was hesitation and a little bit of fear.

And then, over the last decade, things have started to slowly build back up. I’m curious to see if that will repeat when things do open back up after this pandemic. Will we have a comfort level where the parents will want to send their students on their first airplane ride, knowing they could be exposed to a lot of things? What will the trip look like? What precautions will become commonplace? Will it be just as busy as ever or will it not?

During AEC’s April 28th board meeting, Stanley Diller began serving the members of District 5. Diller stated, “I am looking forward to making sound decisions that will help our electric cooperative grow so it can provide viable products and services to communities in rural north-central Oklahoma and south-central Kansas.”

Diller grew up in Nash, OK. His parents, George and Idella Diller, still live in Nash. Diller and his wife Shireen have 6 children, 13 grandchildren and 2 dogs.

Diller is the southern territory manager for Farmers Grain Company. The territory includes the Nash, Hilldale, Kremlin, and Hunter co-ops. He has worked for a grain cooperative for 27 years. “It’s this dedication to the success of cooperatives and the communities they serve that drew me to applying for the AEC board position.”

Being the manager of a co-op and now also being on the board of a co-op keeps Diller plenty busy. He still finds some time to step away from the co-op world. He works on the family farm, which runs 200 cow-calf pairs. The grandkids enjoy hunting and fishing with Grandpa, and he tries to attend as many of their activities as possible. Diller is also an avid OSU fan.

“As a new board member, I am still learning, but I was pleased to discover how dedicated the electric cooperative is to supporting the communities it serves through scholarships and grants.” AEC certainly has another dedicated trustee!

GROSS RECEIPTS TAX ALLOCATIONFOR YEAR ENDING DECEMBER 31, 2019

SCHOOL DISTRICT ALFALFA ELECTRIC WESTERN FARMERS NAME OKLAHOMA OKLAHOMA

GROSS RECEIPTS GROSS RECEIPTS TAX ALLOC TAX ALLOC

ALINE-CLEO 99,173.42 78,948.89 ALVA 151,118.42 177,359.43 BURLINGTON 104,209.37 164,983.31 CHEROKEE 92,296.16 82,475.89 CHISHOLM 2,409.98 0.00 CIMARRON 26,128.58 0.00 FREEDOM 84,629.77 62,384.41 HENNESSEY 2,732.77 0.00 KREMLIN 14,281.30 7,589.41 MEDFORD 90,397.85 126,658.29 POND CREEK 18,214.25 11,021.98 RINGWOOD 81,875.01 35,490.79 TIMBERLAKE 154,613.54 76,051.66 WAYNOKA 70,285.63 86,128.92

TOTALS 992,366.05 909,092.98 BARBER COUNTY 102,091.96 HARPER COUNTY 30,852.51 AEC MILES OF LINE WITHIN SCHOOL DISTRICTS 2889.83

Winners of AEC’s Youth Tour and Leadership Camp have been affected by COVID-19. Seven finalists from AEC’s service area participated in a final interview, which determined the awards. All seven finalists received $500. Ana Smith, Medicine Lodge; Emily Barton, Alva; and John Rose, Kremlin-Hillsdale won the Youth Tour trips to Washington, D.C. Summer Finney from Timberlake and Callista Studer earned trips to the Cooperative Leadership Camp in Steamboat Springs, CO.

Our students handled the cancelations well. They were disappointed, but they understood. I asked our AEC board members to do something special for these students. AEC could never replace the experiences these students missed out on, nor the friendships they never made; however, the board approved purchasing Air MacBooks for the five students who had won trips. Our

winners came to the new AEC building in June to take a group picture and went away with MacBooks! There were tears of joy that turned into the best smiles ever. I want to share some of their thoughts.

Summer: “I was going to attend the Leadership camp in Colorado, but it got canceled because of the coronavirus. AEC surprised us with Air MacBooks since we didn’t get to go on our trips. I was so shocked!! Thank you, AEC!

Callista was out of state and unable to come to AEC in June but came later in July for her picture. “Having to miss the leadership camp was unfortunate, considering I was really excited to go. After I saw the MacBook, I knew I was gonna be okay!”

Emily: “I was extremely disappointed about not going to Washington D.C. It was awesome to open my gift and see my new MacBook! It meant so much that AEC still did something for us. I am still very thankful for the process. I’ve learned so much about how electrical co-ops work and serve our communities. Thank you, AEC, for

these great opportunities!”John: “My heart sank

when I found out that I wasn’t going to be going to D.C. this summer. That isn’t going to stop me, though. I’m just gonna keep chugging along and keep my head up. I honestly thought the MacBook box was a prank at first, but then it hit me that it wasn’t. It still stinks not going to D.C., but I’m glad AEC didn’t forget about us.”

The day Ana received her MacBook, she also found out that Kansas

Electric Cooperative (KEC) had chosen her to represent both KEC and Alfalfa Electric

Cooperative as a member of the Youth Leadership Council (YLC). She would return to Washington, D.C. later in the year and also attend NRECA’s Annual Meeting. Ana had worked so hard to achieve this honor. “Finding the light during tough times like this could be hard to find. We all lost something great, but we also gained another...a real-life situation. Not all things work out as planned, but we do learn from it.” After learning that NRECA had also canceled the YLC trips, Ana shared, “I was so sad about the cancellations of both trips, and I did shed a couple of tears. Then again, I told myself, ‘It’s God’s plan. I won’t question it, and I’ll continue striving on.’ I use my MacBook all the time for my nursing school online and many of my other courses.”

I believe I was more disappointed than these students. I wanted them to have those life-changing experiences. However, I have to be mature like these students and move on and learn from this. AEC did change lives, and I got to meet five remarkable leaders of tomorrow.

Youth Tour and Leadership students still smiling

AEC's 2020 Youth Tour & Leadership Camp winners receive Air MacBooks. Pictured CEO Greg Goetz, Emily Barton, Summer Finney, Ana Smith, John Rose, and Youth Coordinator Robyn Turney.

Callista Studer receives Air MacBook. Studer was unable to attend the earlier presentation.

By Robyn Turney

AEC chose four 8th graders to represent the co-op at Energy

Camp. The students filled out an application and also asked a school official to write a recommendation for them. The 2020 Energy Camp winners are Taylor DuPree from Alva, Sophie Cantellay from Cherokee, Sterling Stewart from Burlington, and Ally Nusser from Freedom. OAEC canceled the camp when the threat of COVID-19 became apparent. OAEC was still determined to provide something for the students.

As with many events in 2020, this year’s Energy Camp looked a little different from the previous camp. More than 50 Energy Campers enjoyed a “virtual” version of Energy Camp. Virtual camp included live social media broadcasts each morning, daily activities and challenges, and more than 100 resources and materials for campers to explore online.

Campers were able to navigate materials at their own pace and participate in activities throughout each day

of camp. Daily activities and challenges supplied opportunities for campers to share their progress and skills with camp staff and on social media.

AEC presented iPads to the four students to help with the disappointment of not being able to attend camp in person.

Taylor wrote, "Thank you so much for your gift! I love my iPad, and I've been using it for my art, mostly. Thank you, again! It's so amazing!"

Sophie shared, "I was really looking forward to the Energy Camp.The iPad from AEC was a very pleasant surprise

and definitely took the sting out of missing the camp. I’ve been using the iPad for art projects, research, and of course Netflix! I am very appreciative for all that AEC has done for us."

Ally was thrilled as she wanted an iPad. "My parents said I would have to work for it because it is very expensive. Right now, I am using my iPad for gaming and art, but I am looking forward to using it during school."

Sterling participated in the most activities. "I received an amazing iPad from Alfalfa Electric Cooperative. I use my iPad when I want to watch movies

and play games. When school begins in the fall, I plan to use it in class. I am very thankful for this generous gift."

Congratulations to the 2020 Energy Campers on a successful virtual experience and making the best of an extraordinary circumstance. Oklahoma’s Electric Cooperatives are proud of these future community leaders. Keep up the great

work!

AAEECClfalfa ooperative

lectric

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580-596-3333 | 888-736-3837

Board of Trustees John Regier, President

Ringwood, OK (District 4)

Steve Eck, Vice President Sharon, KS (District 6)

Julie Russell, Sec. Treas Freedom, OK (District 3)

Mark Angle Byron, OK (District 1)

Larry Dewitt Cherokee, OK (District 2)

Stan Diller Nash, OK (District 5)

Gary Olson Carmen, OK (District 7)

Joe Woods Cherokee, OK (District 8)

AEC Staff Greg Goetz

CEO & General Manager Gail Ridgway

Chief Financial Officer Jim Daub

Manager of Engineering & Operations Brandon Wright

Director of EngineeringChristy Schanbacher

Director of AccountingTerry Ryel

Manager of Marketing & Public Relations

Scott Cudmore Director of Operations

Robyn Turney Communications Specialist

Kyle Hadwiger Attorney

580-596-3333

OAEC provides a virtual energy camp

AEC presents iPads to Energy Camp winners Taylor DuPree, Alva; Sophie Cantellay, Cherokee; Sterling Stewart, Burlington; and Ally Nusser, Freedom.