Golden Spread Electric Cooperative gives back through community committee

Turpin Volunteer Fire Department chief Gary Riffe and his wife Sherri Riffe recently came to the TCEC office in Hooker to receive a check for $300 from Golden Spread Electric Cooperative. 

Membership in a distribution electric cooperative like TCEC has several benefits, one of which is the principle of Concern for Community. TCEC is a member of Golden Spread Electric Cooperative, which is a generation and transmission organization with a total of 16 cooperative members. They purchase and supply power to TCEC for its members and they also follow the universal cooperative principle of Concern for Community.

The Community Involvement Committee of Golden Spread Electric Cooperative is giving back to local communities with a cumulative donation of $4,800 to 16 volunteer fire departments, including the Turpin Volunteer Fire Department. TCEC Member Solutions Vice President Chris Purdy presented the donation to Gary and Sherri Riffe on April 1.

The committee selects one volunteer fire department from each of its 16 members’ service areas to donate to every year. TCEC provided a list of all local volunteer fire departments to the committee and they will continue to rotate recipients every year. 

“We enjoy supporting the volunteer fire departments,” said Jennifer Bobbitt, vice chairperson of the Community Involvement Committee. “It typifies one of Golden Spread’s operating principles, caring and giving. Our goal is to support a volunteer fire department in each of our member territories each year. I am thankful to be a part of an organization that prioritizes community investment.” 

The Golden Spread Board of Directors entrusts to the community involvement committee an annual budget, which is used to benefit the territories served by its 16 members. Activities and organizations are selected by the committee and supported by Golden Spread employees. Approximately $15,000 in employee donations annually support volunteer fire departments and senior nutrition programs in its members’ service territories. 

The 16 volunteer fire departments receiving donations in early 2021 are: Abernathy, Christoval, Clarendon, Dawn, Earth, Hamby, Miami Roberts, Morton, Petersburg, Rotan, Rowena, Sheffield, Texline, Turpin, Wayside Emergency Team and Wilson.

For more information about Golden Spread Electric Cooperative and its community efforts, visit www.gsec.coop.

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Tri-County Electric Cooperative (TCEC) commits to safely power our communities with innovation, accountability and integrity – every member, every time. Headquartered in Hooker, Okla., TCEC is a not-for-profit distribution cooperative owned and controlled by its members. The utility serves approximately 12,500 members and 23,000 meters in the Oklahoma Panhandle, southwestern Kansas, the northern border of the Texas Panhandle and parts of Colorado and New Mexico. For more information, visit www.tcec.coop.

Golden Spread Electric Cooperative, Inc., is a consumer-owned public utility organized in 1984 to provide electric service for rural distribution cooperative Members located in the Panhandle, South Plains and Edwards Plateau regions of Texas, the Panhandle of Oklahoma, Southwest Kansas and Southeast Colorado. Golden Spread is headquartered in Amarillo and delivers competitive energy solutions to its 16 Member Cooperatives through wind and solar resources and state-of-the-art power plants in Texas near Abernathy and Denver City.