Oklahoma Volunteers Help Bring Electricity To Nearly 1,200 Families In Guatemala

Lineworkers and electricians from Oklahoma traveled to Guatemala this December to help provide power to farmers and their families.

The Oklahoma Association of Electric Cooperatives said that eight Oklahomans along with volunteers from Arkansas and Colorado wired nearly 200 structures in 38 villages bringing electricity to the region of Alta Verapaz. The 14-day mission is a partnership between the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association’s (NRECA) philanthropic arm, NRECA International, and Heifer International

The volunteers installed breaker boxes, light sockets, outlets, and switches as well as meters on concrete poles outside of the homes. Nearly 1,200 farmers and their families will now have safe electricity for the first time this Christmas.

“Serving on this mission has been incredibly humbling. Co-ops are built to give back. It is our privilege to give the gift of light to those who never had it,” Jarrod Hooper, Cotton Electric Cooperative safety director and project team leader, said. “Their lives will never be the same, and the same can be said about the volunteers. We will always remember the villagers’ kindness and resilience. We are all changed.”

The 14-day mission is a partnership between the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association’s (NRECA) philanthropic arm, NRECA International, and Heifer International

“Access to electricity will bring economic empowerment to these farmers and opportunities to enhance overall quality of life, including education, health care and safety,” says Chris Meyers, General Manager for the Oklahoma Association of Electric Cooperatives. “I’m proud of our co-op volunteers for leaving the comforts of their homes and for giving the people of Guatemala a boost to improve their lives.”

Since 2016, Oklahoma co-ops have been partnering with NRECA International and sister cooperatives in other states to bring first access to electricity in Central America and South America.