Operation Round Up®, employees, Dollar General support effort
Gaffney, SC, August 19, 2016: Combined efforts from Broad River Electric Cooperative members, employees and a local employer served by the utility, have provided 2,500 book bags, with school supplies, to elementary students across the upstate of South Carolina.
The backpacks contain a notebook, a pack of paper and an encouraging note from Broad River Electric Cooperative.
“There is a need for these backpacks and supplies throughout our area,” explained Barbara Whitney, chair of the Broad River Electric Charities Board and a retired school administrator in Spartanburg County. “We wanted to help our children begin their school year equipped, not just with supplies, but with the knowledge that their community supports them.”
The funds used to purchase the packs came from Operation Round Up® program, a Broad River Electric program in which the cooperative’s members round up their monthly bills to the nearest dollar. The extra change accumulates into a benevolent fund that is distributed to local charities and causes. This is the fourth consecutive summer that the fund has provided supplies and necessities to local students.
The spiral bound notebook and a pack of paper inside each bag was donated by the Dollar General Distribution Center in Jonesville. The facility is one of Broad River Electric Cooperative’s industrial members and a strong supporter of local schools and the community.
With cooperative members providing the bags and supplies, Broad River Electric employees, Charities Board members, friends and family assembled at Broad River Electric Auditorium in Gaffney on August 9 to stuff the 2,500 backpacks. Since then, Broad River Electric representatives have been hand delivering the bags to the dozens of schools and community centers in the area.
“We exist to serve our members and empower our communities,” said Josh Crotzer, Broad River Electric’s Manager of Community Development. “We know one of the best ways to do that is to invest in our children and their education.
“We are thankful to the community, Jonesville’s Dollar General Distribution Center, our members and our employees for being a part of this effort. They truly embody the cooperative spirit.”
Broad River Electric Cooperative is a non-profit, member-owned distribution cooperative providing services to more than 20,000 members in Cherokee, Spartanburg, Union and Newberry counties in South Carolina and Cleveland, Polk and Rutherford counties in North Carolina in order to improve the quality of their lives.
