Beyond Grateful!

With Youth Tour 2017 in the books, I am feeling pretty reflective and incredibly grateful. So many people/organizations to thank. If you have followed any of our social media posts, you know that Youth Tour has many, many moving parts and it is impossible to run this program solo.

Thank you …

Most importantly, we are so very appreciative for the electric cooperatives that invest in the young leaders that they send on Youth Tour. The impact you make on these students is lasting!

Members of the NRECA Youth Tour Team are the unsung heroes of this program. They never seek the limelight, and they do a great job bringing us all together and keeping us moving in the same direction.

The chaperones that take a week away from their family and jobs to pour into the lives of the students. There are not enough words to thank our 2017 chaperones! They are truly rock stars! If you see, Keaton Hildreth, Holi Weston or Darren and Jody Johnson be sure to thank them. Couldn’t ask for a more solid group of partners in crime!

The Iowa Youth Tour Intern Rebecca Boyer. Her leadership and assistants were priceless! Anyone that follows Iowa Youth Tour on any of our social media platforms, has her to thank for all the timely postings.

A huge shout out goes to our bus driver, Rob, who kept us safe and displayed uncanny skills navigating around DC.

This year we welcomed some sponsors. So thankful for their support and participation.  

Presidential Sponsors:

The Iowa Institute for Cooperatives provide a proven business model that has fostered economic progress in Iowa for decades. The Iowa Institute for Cooperatives has been lighting the way for cooperatives across the state since 1951.

Their members come from a variety of industries, including agriculture, credit unions, rural electric, rural telephone, farm credit, petroleum, and more. They develop educational and training programs for their members, provide timely news updates, and guide legislative actions that build upon the strength of the cooperative system. They also promote new cooperative development and value-added production. 

Rural Electric Supply Cooperative (RESCO) is a member-owned and not-for-profit electrical wholesaling business incorporated in 1936 as Wisconsin Electric Cooperative (WEC).  In 1972, they became Rural Electric Supply Cooperative (RESCO) to reflect an expansion into multiple states and a more active role as an electrical distributor.

RESCO’s member-owners are the Rural Electric Cooperatives in the upper Midwest extending from Michigan to Montana. They assist our member-owners with the procurement of their distribution and transmission electrical material supply needs. RESCO views their cooperative organization as an extension of our member’s procurement department and they work hand-in-hand with their members to make sure their member’s material supply needs are met.

Like Rural Electric Cooperatives and other affiliated cooperative organizations, RESCO’s not-for-profit business model requires excess margins (profits) be returned to their members in the form of patronage refunds. 

Northwest Iowa Power Cooperative (NIPCO) is a generation and transmission electric cooperative supplying wholesale electric power to 7 distribution cooperatives covering 6,500 square miles in western Iowa. These distribution cooperatives supply retail power to over 30,000 members/consumers. NIPCO serves these customers with over 900 miles of 69kV transmission line and 80 distribution substations. Incorporated in 1949 and headquartered in Le Mars, Iowa, NIPCO is a Touchstone Energy® electric cooperative and a member of Basin Electric Power Cooperative.

House (Meal) Sponsor:

Sullivan & Ward, P.C. is an Iowa law firm focused on bringing solutions that make a positive difference for clients and the community.

Since the firm was founded in 1935, Sullivan & Ward has helped thousands of clients — individuals, cooperative associations and businesses across Iowa and nationwide — achieve desired results. Many of their attorneys are recognized throughout the state and nationally for their professional knowledge and contributions.

Finally, I want to thank the students. I know you were nervous and not really sure what you were in for, but thank you for being open to new experiences and trusting us when we told you that you were in for the trip of a lifetime. I cannot tell you how many times strangers came up to me and commented about what a nice group we had. The lady sitting next to me on the plane between DC and Chicago said, “I guess young people in Iowa say ‘thank you’.” It was almost like she was surprised, but I wasn’t because that is how you were the entire trip! I hope you will always remember the friends you made, sites you saw and the incredible electric cooperatives that gave you this opportunity!

And they lived cooperatively ever after!

Gratefully,

Shelly York