Eddie Ferguson
Habersham EMC
Georgia

"I would go back. I enjoyed it. It’s great to help out and be a part of something like this. After going through this, I understood what people went through in the 30s, when they were starting cooperatives here in the U.S." - Mark Brothers

Mark Brothers
Duck River Electric Membership Cooperative
Tennessee

"The people down there just need a little help. And I feel like I've always enjoyed going and seeing different things. I've been to Guatemala now, and I can talk with a degree of knowledge about how things are down there. It's an experience. Nobody can tell you what it's like to do something. You just got to go do it and see what it's like." - Mark Brothers

Richard Lopez
Socorro Electric Cooperative
New Mexico

"I'll tell you a story about that. We had just reenergized the last circuit that I was present for, and they had just finished trimming some trees to get the line off the trees, and they called for the power to come on. The power came on, and I heard this girl scream, and I look over, and she's singing and dancing in her patio. There was a light bulb in the patio, and she was singing and dancing underneath the light. She was really happy. She'd been out of power for 52 days." - Richard Lopez

Brad Libbert & Travis Lumpkin
Three Rivers Electric Cooperative
Linn, Missouri

"The local men we worked with were very eager to work and even more excited to learn about electricity and line work. And installing street lights gave the locals a chance to see the results from electricity instantaneously." - Bradley Libbert

Travis Housley
Big Rivers Electric Corporation
Henderson, Kentucky

"Any time a village gets electricity, there's a show of gratitude with a big celebration. The villagers realize a tremendous change in their lives...I guess it's the ability, with such little effort, to change the lives of people. It's almost a shame not to do it." - Travis Housley

Gwen Thomas
East Central Energy
Braham, MN

"My experience in Haiti was life-altering. Meeting the people and being a part of something that has the potential to enrich the quality of their lives was amazing. It is difficult to explain the fire this project lit within me." - Gwen Thomas

Jody Hand and Curt Baker
Coweta-Fayette EMC
Palmetto, GA

“I really wanted to take advantage of an opportunity to do something different. Our co-op has sent several groups at different times, and this time, I wanted to help out, to do whatever I could do to help people in need.” — Jody Hand

Ashley Johnson
Horry Electric Cooperative
Conway, South Carolina

"I wanted to help others that don’t have as much as we do. I see what my children have and they don’t, and I wanted to help make a difference." - Ashley Johnson

Volunteers in Yei, Sudan

Read about the linemen’s experiences, as published by Rural Missouri (March 2008). They put “care” into action and traveled half-way across the world to help a community they had never even heard of before.