Svec NewsLetter July 2016

Suwannee Valley

Suwannee Valley Electric Cooperative Lighting the way since 1937

currents

www.svec-coop.com

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(8 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. • Monday - Friday, Lobby Hours)

Business Office: 800-447-4509 (Drive-thru 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. • Monday - Friday)

July 2016

Power Outage Reporting (24 hours a day)

800-752-0025

Is your family ready for hurricane season?

SERVING RURAL AND URBAN SUWANNEE VALLEY OWNED BY THOSE WE SERVE 11340 100th Street • Live Oak, FL 32060

CEO’S COR NER

Planning for tomorrow Michael S. McWaters Executive V.P./CEO

As we enter into hurricane season, we are once again reminded of the importance of preparation. In our home and our business, the old saying that “proper planning prevents poor performance” rings true. This month is a reminder that storm season has well and truly begun and that preparedness starts now — not when the clouds get dark.

As a utility, we look to the future when we create our disaster plans, when we train for outages and continually trim trees away from power lines because we know that, one day, there will be a storm that will knock down those branches.

We also plan for the future beyond the next few months or even the next few years. As a cooperative, we believe that building a community is as important as building a substation. That’s why every year, SVEC sponsors local students to take part in the Florida Youth Tour, where they learn about government and the importance of cooperatives.

These tours give our young people the chance to travel to the state capital, and for a few even to Washington, D.C., but it’s the knowledge and experience they bring back to the Suwannee Valley that is truly valuable in the long term.

These students will be our leaders tomorrow. By learning about the cooperative way of life and the importance that businesses like SVEC play in our community, we’re ensuring that there’s a future for our philosophy and that our cooperative principles have a future. 

Hurricanes may sound like a problem only coastal regions experience, but the dangerous flooding, damaging winds and tornadoes that come with them can change even inland communities in just a few hours.

That’s why Suwannee Valley Electric Cooperative wants your family to be prepared.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has predicted the Atlantic and Gulf hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to Nov. 30, will have a 70 percent likelihood of seeing 10 to 16 storms with winds of 39 miles per hour or higher.

Of those, up to eight could become hur-

ricanes with winds of 79 mph or higher, and up to four could have winds up to 110 mph or higher.

Planning for a hurricane is simple but important. Make sure the family knows how to connect with family members who aren’t home and designate a location to meet in case phone lines are out.

Also, keep a disaster kit on hand so your family has essential items, such as nonperishable food, water, prescriptions and other items. For more help on assembling a disaster kit, see some of our tips on this page. 

Disaster Kit 101 Assembling a disaster kit could help your family weather the storm until the power’s back on. Here are a few things to include, but remember to personalize for your specific needs, which could include the care of pets, infants, elderly and the sick.

COMMUNICATION IS KEY. Weather radios and phone chargers can help keep you upto-date on the latest weather, evacuation information and storm locations. Check outage updates at our website, svec-coop.com.

PLAN FOR THE WORST. Pack a two-week supply of water, with one gallon per family member per day. Remember flashlights, candles and matches.

FOOD SENSE. Keep a two-week supply of nonperishable foods, including canned meat, soups and other ready-to-serve items.

THINK CLEAN. With rising water comes disease. Keep paper towels, cleaning supplies, garbage bags, water purification tablets and bleach around.

MEDICATIONS. Make sure you have a supply of necessary prescription medications, as well as a first-aid kit.

CASH. Keep an extra supply of cash available in case stores and gas stations are unable to accept credit or debit cards.

Washington, D.C., tour inspires, motivates students Three local high school students found a renewed drive to succeed during a weeklong trip to the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association’s Youth Tour in Washington, D.C., sponsored each year by Suwannee Valley Electric Cooperative.

Tyanne Liu, Hannah Poole and Sydney McWaters, all 17 and all rising seniors, joined more than 1,500 students from across the country to represent SVEC during the tour from June 10-16.

The students had previously been selected by the cooperative to attend a two-day trip to Tallahassee, where they toured the Challenger Learning Center and participated in a mock Supreme Court hearing and a mock session in the state Senate chambers. From there, they were

chosen by the cooperative out of a group of students to attend the Washington, D.C., tour.

During the trip, students were given a chance to speak with their U.S. representatives and senators, learn about our national history and meet other students from nearly every state.

“It’s something I’ll never forget,” says Liu, who attends Branford High School.

SVEC Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Officer Michael McWaters says sponsoring the tour is one of the ways the cooperative reaches out and builds connections with the community.

“It exposes the students to things they might not otherwise get exposed to,” McWaters says.

“But, along the way, it also helps

teach them about cooperatives, what cooperatives are and that we are locally owned and operated. It also shows them that we care about what happens in our communities.

“These juniors in high school are hopefully going to be member-owners of the co-op in the future,” he adds. “We hope through their participation in these events, they’ll learn more about the cooperatives. That way, when their time comes and they’re members, they’ll have the opportunity to serve on a coop board or work at a co-op. This experience builds that kind of framework.”

The extensive, fast-paced tour offered a series of leadership opportunities, as well as a chance to meet with lawmakers

and speakers who challenged the students to push their boundaries.

Poole, a Mayo resident who attends Lafayette High School, found the tour gave her a better perspective of what was going on in the world and her place in it.

“It opened my eyes,” she says.

“I saw there’s a life outside of my small town that I didn’t realize was there. I know now I can make a bigger impact if I want to and if I have the desire to. Just because I’m from a small town, it doesn’t mean I can’t make a difference.”

Poole, who hopes to become a speech pathologist, says her favorite part of the trip was meeting other students from Florida who were as driven to achieve and succeed as she is.

“I think that was the biggest

impact it had on me. I was there with people that were like me that way. I could relate to them,” she says.

The students also got the chance to meet and talk with U.S. Rep. Ted Yoho (R-Tallahassee), who spoke with them on his positions on various issues and answered their questions.

“He was very helpful,” Liu says.

All of the students enjoyed the Newseum, a museum dedicated to free expression and the First Amendment, which promises freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly and petition.

The museum, which opened in 2008, is one of the more interactive museums in the capital and includes exhibits on Sept. 11, the Berlin Wall and a gallery of Pulitzer Prize-winning photographs from 1942 to the present.

McWaters, a Suwannee High School student from Live Oak, says she especially loved seeing headlines from newspapers throughout the country’s history.

“They had a newspaper with a headline about George Washington declaring Thanksgiving a national holiday,” she says. “They had newspapers from Sept. 11, and they were just putting in the newspapers about the (recent) Orlando shootings.”

McWaters, who plans to go into pharmacy when she gets to college, was also excited about the speakers who inspired them to push forward in their lives and give back to their communities.

Their words gave her the inspiration to see things differently and the confidence to achieve them, she says.

Other attractions were also a hit with the students, including the National Museum of Natural History and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Liu, who plans to pursue a degree in biology, says the Newseum was one of the highlights of the trip for her as well.

“It was a diverse collection of interesting exhibits,” she says.

But the city itself was also a big hit for Liu. “I live in a small town, so going to a big city was eye-opening,”

Hannah Poole, Sydney McWaters and Tyanne Liu, youth representatives for Suwannee Valley Electric Cooperative, pose for a picture with the U.S. Capitol building in the background during the NRECA Youth Tour in Washington, D.C., in June.

she says. “Washington is a beautiful place, and it was great being able to visit the Capitol and experience all of that with other kids from around the country.”

In fact, the Youth Tour has inspired her to pursue more leadership opportunities, she says.

“I’m going to start looking at everything I can do.”

The NRECA Youth Tour began in the late 1950s. In that time, it has given nearly 50,000 students from rural areas and small towns the chance to see the nation’s capital during the annual tours. The program is open to juniors in high school who are chosen by the cooperative to participate in the Tallahassee Youth Tour.

Students can find out more about participating in next year’s Tallahassee and Washington tours by contacting Suwannee Valley Electric Cooperative. The Tallahassee tour and the Washington, D.C., tour are free for students who are selected to attend through an application process. 

Youth Tour participants visited the Newseum, where they saw the World Trade Center antenna and front pages of 9/11 newspapers.

YOU MAY HAVE UNCLAIMED CAPITAL CREDIT! Find out today on our website As a cooperative, SVEC looks at profits differently. When the amount of money our system brings in outweighs the cost of providing power to members and system maintenance, those profits aren’t sent to investors on Wall Street. They go right back to our members.

svec-coop.com/ unclaimed-credits

At SVEC we refer to this money as capital credits, and they reflect each member’s ownership in their cooperative. However, sometimes members don’t receive their capital credit checks, whether due to an incorrect or outof-date address.

If you haven’t received your capital credit check, please visit svec-coop.com/unclaimed-credits.

Here you will be able to search for your last name on a database that is up-to-date as of the May 1 general retirement of capital credits.

If you see your name, simply fill out the Unclaimed Capital Credit Checks form online, or print it off and mail the completed form to: Suwannee Valley Electric Cooperative, Inc. ATTENTION: Capital Credit P.O. Box 160 Live Oak, FL 32064

SVEC wants to make sure everyone is able to claim the money that is theirs as a member of this cooperative community. If you haven’t received a capital credit check, please search for your name today.