CEO, Tennessee Electric Cooperative Association
In 2019, your local electric cooperative joined co-ops from across the state to do something good. It was more than a community service project or a donation to a deserving local charity, as worthy as those good deeds are. This good deed was a lasting effort that will benefit your community and our state for generations to come. Ironically, though, I hope and pray that it is never, ever actually put to use.
The Tennessee Lineworker Lifeline Foundation was established to help support the noble men and women who choose the dangerous, yet fulfilling, profession of lineworker. Keeping the lights on, the fridge cold and your devices charging is not as easy as flipping a switch or programming a line of code in a computer. It is manual labor that requires physical exertion and lots and lots of know-how to stay safe. Working outside in the hot and cold is the norm. And when the storms get bad and we go inside for shelter, lineworkers head out to repair the damage.
If you’ve read this column, you might recognize my affinity for the guys and gals who work the line. Their job is essential to everything we do. Whether at home, at work or at play, think of everything that surrounds you that uses electricity. I suppose I could do without a scoreboard at my sons’ baseball games, but the surgeon operating on your loved one needs uninterrupted power to perform the job. Indeed, electricity literally powers our everyday lives. All day. All night. Every day.
As hard as we try, sometimes accidents happen. Things break. People make mistakes. A drunk driver crosses the yellow line. A tree falls. Lineworkers get hurt. Sometimes, the accident takes a life.
And when tragedies happen, the Tennessee Lineworker Lifeline Foundation is there to help. The fund provides financial support for families in the case of loss of life and real dollars for lineworkers who find themselves in the hospital. Not one penny comes from your electric bill. It comes from donations and your friends and neighbors who show their support for lineworkers on the back of their cars.
When you purchase the Powering Tennessee license plate at your local DMV, a portion of your registration fee is provided to the fund. Go to poweringtennessee.org to learn more about getting one of these fantastic plates or how you can make a cash donation.
Despite my unrealistic wish that this good deed go unused, the reality is that bad things do happen. And when those bad things happen to lineworkers in our great state, we have a way to help.
