COMMITMENT TO COMMUNITY
A theme shared by parade planners and Touchstone Energy
“Commitment to community” was the overall
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The Capital Electric parade walkers included: (front row, left to right) Clark Twardoski and Parker Engbrecht; and (back row, left to right) Blake Reis, Dana Solem, Paul Fitterer, Carmen Devney and Wes Engbrecht. |
theme for the Mandan Jaycees Fourth of July Parade. It also happens to be one of the four foundations on which Touchstone Energy® is built. Since 1998, this national alliance of local, member-owned electric cooperatives has done business with integrity, accountability, innovation and commitment to community.
Because the parade theme coincided with that of Touchstone Energy, planning the float was easy, says Wes Engbrecht, director of communications and public relations for Capital Electric Cooperative.
“We teamed up with other area Touchstone Energy Cooperatives and printed a large poster that listed the top organizations each co-op supports. For instance, Capital Electric employees volunteer time and the co-op gives financial donations to support events that affect the people in our service area,” she says. “We felt the banner helped show a small piece of our commitment to community.”
Some of organizations listed on the banner under Capital Electric included the University of Mary, the N.D. Heritage Center, Bismarck State College, Junior Achievement, United Way, the Lincoln Area Park District and so many more.
More than 30 cooperative employees and their families walked the parade route, representing Capital Electric Cooperative, Mor-Gran-Sou Electric Cooperative, Basin Electric Power Cooperative, the North Dakota Association of Rural Electric Cooperatives and National Information Solutions Cooperative.
Walkers handed out stickers to kids in the crowd. Printed in the Touchstone Energy colors of red, blue, gold and green, the stickers promoted safety messages including:
Be careful around power lines;
Don’t overload outlets;
Never touch anything attached to or touching a power line; and
Keep water guns away from electricity.
While the stickers weren’t quite as sweet as candy, the kids seemed to like the one-on-one attention from the walkers and the parents nodded their heads in approval.
“The parade is a great way for Mor-Gran-Sou and other cooperatives to show we really do care about our communities. It also gives us an opportunity to teach our young people, and we hope our simple safety message sticks with them,” Engbrecht says.