Don't Miss the Annual Meeting.

Don’t Miss the Annual Meeting and a Chance to Celebrate Decades of Excellence

By Lisa Cope (General Manager/CEO)

Our annual meeting is set for March 23 at Warren County High School, and we look forward to sharing this day with you. The meeting is an opportunity to hear about the latest advocacy efforts of your cooperative and to discuss the fiber deployment schedule. And in addition to opportunities to renew old friendships and to enjoy delicious food, you will learn tips about how to better use technology. Our experts will offer guidance for selecting a new router, as well as the benefits of managed IT services for businesses. You will have the chance to see the latest security equipment and to learn how these tools can better protect your home or business.

We view this day as a great opportunity to show our appreciation for and to interact with our members. It is also a chance to showcase our talented, dedicated employees and directors. During the business meeting, members will receive progress updates of 2018 initiatives and hear plans for 2019 and beyond. Please make plans to attend and visit with the Ben Lomand family.

The meeting continues a heritage dating to 1952 when Ben Lomand Rural Telephone Cooperative Inc. began to form. The cooperative became operational in 1954 after members encouraged their neighbors to support the effort to bring reliable telephone service to our rural areas. These early pioneers recognized the need for this service to ensure continued economic development andprosperity for the region and as an avenue to keep in touch with distant family and friends. Today, as in the past, our approach to member needs is service-minded with a desire to bring you the best possible experience. We continue to deliver the services you need.

In the daily operations of Ben Lomand, we strive to keep the seven cooperative principles firmly in mind. The values include voluntary and open membership; democratic member control; economic participation of the members; maintaining autonomy and independence; providing education, training and information; cooperation among cooperatives; and concern for the community. These principles are the guideposts to cooperative organizations around the world. Our cooperative has been operational for 65 years, and we continue to listen to our members and act upon your suggestions and critiques. We understand that by doing so, we honor our value statement of interacting with the community with honesty, integrity and commitment to exceptional customer service through teamwork.

Also, as you look through the pages of the magazine, please note the special emphasis placed on the inventive ways that broadband connections are utilized in rural health care. Remote visits with doctors and therapists, radiologists reviewing scans from one central location, and nearly real-time medical records are some of the current applications. With advances in technology, family members can now monitor the well-being of senior relatives who continue to live in their own homes. We are truly living in a world where innovation is creating opportunity.

Please pay particular attention to the article about the Kids of the Community. The vision for this great organization has become a reality through planning and implementation of some firmly established strategic goals. We know when we come together as a team, there are few challenges where a great solution cannot be found. Kids of the Community is an excellent example. These children have opportunities that have never been presented to them before, and the adults experience rewards they never could have anticipated.