Iowa Youth Tour: June 2018

Monday, June 11, 2018

It’s more than half way done!

The cooperative's leadership

A board meeting in action

So hard to believe that Iowa Youth Tour 2018 is on the downhill slide. We’ve had a great time seeing all the sights this city has to offer, but we’ve also learned a lot about how a cooperative is run. It all started out with a nominating committee that interviewed board candidates, the members then elected a board, the board elected officers and hired a manager. Then the manager hired the staff. The cooperative has been selling snacks to its members (the students and chaperones) at a very fair price, sending out daily health tips and advertising their products and service. On Wednesday night we will have the cooperative annual meeting and we will pay capital credits. Stay tuned!

The cooperative sold punch
cards to make it easier for
the members

The cooperative is doing some
big business!

A sample of the cooperative's
advertising

Be sure and check out our Facebook page for photos of our adventures! https://www.facebook.com/pg/IowaYouthTour/photos/?tab=album&album_id=2172133076137267

Cooperatively,

Shelly

(snack cooperative member!)

Like our Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/IowaYouthTour?ref=hl

Check us out on Snapchat: iowayouthtour

Tuesday, June 5, 2018

Way more than a trip to DC

I absolutely love (LOVE!) this piece of Iowa Youth Tour history! Makes me so proud to be a member of the electric cooperative family!

Senator Lyndon Baines Johnson inspired the Youth Tour when he addressed the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) Annual Meeting in Chicago in 1957. The Senator and future president declared, “If one thing comes out of this meeting, it will be sending youngsters to the national capital where they can actually see what the flag stands for and represents.

Consequently, some Texas electric cooperatives sent groups of young people to Washington to work during the summer in Senator Johnson’s office. In 1958, electric cooperatives in Iowa sponsored the first group of 34 young people on a week-long study tour of our nation’s capital. Later that same year, another busload came to Washington from Illinois. The idea grew and other states sent busloads of young people throughout the summer. By 1959, the “Youth Tour” had grown to 130 students.

In 1964, NRECA began to coordinate joint activities among the state delegations and suggested that co-op representatives from each state arrange to be in Washington, D.C., during Youth Tour week. The first year of the coordinated Tour included approximately 400 young people from 12 states. Word of the program has continued to spread and today, more than 1,500 students and over 250 chaperones participate in the Youth Tour every year.

Earlier this year we reached out to a few of the original Youth Touers … well, it wasn’t called Youth Tour then, the trip was called “Our Tour of the Nation’s Capital Sponsored by Rural Electric Cooperatives” ... to see what they remembered from that bus trip to DC 60 years ago. Their responses were absolutely heartwarming. The details they recalled, and the gratitude for the cooperatives that sent was so humbling!

In the Living with Energy in Iowa magazine that hits mailboxes this week, you should check out the story about that first group of students that were sponsored by Iowa’s electric cooperatives.

It is a clear reminder to me that Youth Tour is way more than a trip to Washington, DC – it changes lives, creates advocates and instills a strong sense of community.

Stay tuned. The stories from this year’s group of 37 students is just about to unfold.

Cooperatively yours,

Shelly

Like our Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/IowaYouthTour?ref=hl

Check us out on Snapchat: iowayouthtour