More than a power source: Brunswick Electric typifies commitment of cooperatives to support rural communities

Rural Cooperatives, July-August, 2003 by Steve Thompson

Editor's Note: This is the first in a series of 3 articles examining electrical co-ops that are heavily involved in community development.

There's an 84-year-old woman in Winnabow, N.C., who knows what community involvement by utility co-ops means. The woman, whom we'll call Mrs. P., was living on a small, fixed income and having trouble paying her bills. So she wrote to the President of the United States to ask for help.

Her letter wound up on the desk of Hilda Gay Legg, the administrator of USDA Rural Development's Rural Utilities Service. Legg got in touch with Mrs. P.'s electric cooperative, the Brunswick Electric Membership Corporation (BEMC).

Robert W. "Chip" Leavitt Jr., the CEO of BEMC, sent someone around to look in on Mrs. P., who was a life-long member of the co-op. What he found was an elderly lady confined to a wheelchair, living in an old house with heat only in one room and few resources to improve her home.

This started a chain of events that shows that the rural tradition of taking care of neighbors is alive and well. The co-op employee brought Mrs. P. some food treats and a small Christmas tree. He got in touch with a relative at the sheriff's department, whose employees got together a package of food, supplies and clothing. Meanwhile, employees of the co-op took up a collection for her, and contacted the appropriate local officials to make sure she was getting all the government help to which she was entitled. Leavitt even got help to pay Mrs. P.'s gas bill.

Electric co-ops' have vital stake in community welfare

Helping out Mrs. P. is only one example of the ways Brunswick Electric participates in the life of the communities it serves. BEMC, like utility cooperatives around the country, has a policy of using its resources to improve the economic and social conditions of the areas it serves. Besides helping out indigent members, Brunswick takes an active role in improving educational opportunities for students, encouraging the development of small businesses and providing funding for causes as diverse as obtaining and training police dogs, cultural programs, transportation for disabled veterans, raising funds for hospitals and sponsoring a local baseball tournament.

BEMC's activities are part of a long tradition in rural America, where electric co-ops have played important roles in community life since the first were founded in the 1930s. As the only non-governmental organization that serves all families living in a service area, an electric co-op is a true grassroots organization with a unique position in rural communities.

Annual membership meetings are important social events that bring people together from miles around. Politicians running for office have traditionally found an electric cooperative's annual meeting or picnic an ideal venue for pressing the flesh and kissing babies.

After the immense job of electrifying rural America was accomplished, electric co-ops remained engaged in their members' lives in many other ways. Many have used their resources to encourage economic development, by setting up revolving loan funds for business ventures and other uses. Business incubators are operated by some utility co-ops to help launch new business.

Building hospitals and community centers and purchasing emergency equipment are other common activities of power cooperatives. Power co-ops use their positions as community institutions to encourage other entities to participate in partnership efforts, and their fiscal expertise to raise and administer funds. USDA Rural Development's Rural Economic Development Loan and Grant program is one source of funds for these purposes (see sidebar).

BEMC working to stimulate economy

BEMC's service area is in southeastern North Carolina, a region that has suffered economically in recent years due to shutdowns in local manufacturing and declining farm incomes. The co-op has responded to the situation in a number of ways, including providing facilities to encourage the development of small businesses, a tactic used by utility cooperatives around the country.

BEMC tackled the project by setting up a spin-off corporation, the Rural Consumer Services Corporation (RCSC), in 1989. The co-op financed RCSC through partnerships with a number of local and national entities, including the Rural Electrification Administration (now USDA Rural Development's Rural Utilities Service), the Farmers Home Administration (whose business, community and housing programs are now part of Rural Development), and the North Carolina Technological Development Authority. Further funding and other support came from local community colleges, local development organizations and local businesses and individuals.

The first funds were used as seed money to open a Business Development Center in Whiteville, N.C, in 1991. Two more centers were later opened, using additional funding, in nearby Winnebow and Tabor City. The facilities offer inexpensive commercial space, including office space, for new and expanding small businesses. The rental fees include high-speed Internet hook-ups, access to light office equipment (including fax machines and copiers), secretarial support, conference rooms and training facilities. Each Business Development Center can accommodate professional offices, service businesses and even light manufacturing.