Shining bright during National Co-op Month
Have you seen this image before?
Most people probably haven’t, but if you’ve been around our main office, there’s a chance you’ve seen it in some shape or form. You can find several copies hanging in various rooms, in addition to it being featured on a few paperweights and even commemorative notecards.
So, what’s so special about it?
In 1976, Kentucky Bicentennial artist Nellie Meadows was commissioned to create this painting, Let There Be Light, for the scholarship fund of the Kentucky Ladies Task Force (forerunner of today’s Women in Rural Electrification organization). The painting highlights the many different ways we’ve brought light into our lives, from the early days of using whale oil and kerosene lamps to the then-modern fluorescent tube lights and long-lasting “Super Bulbs.”
Not only did the painting help create scholarship opportunities for journalism students at some of our state colleges and universities, it also helped paint a picture (pun intended) of just how far we’ve come in illuminating our lives.
Take a second and think: If you were to go back in time some 90 years, you’d find darkness in the homes and barns of most rural residents—except for the glow of a candle or kerosene lamp. For many, it wasn’t until the creation of a locally-owned cooperative that those homes and farms would receive the power, and light, they needed.
Yet even as the miles have increased and the memberships have grown, Salt River Electric’s core goals remain the same. We remain dedicated to making sure our members receive safe and reliable electricity at an affordable price. We’re still controlled by a board of directors who are elected by their fellow members to keep their best interests in mind. And, most importantly, we keep our sights set on making life better for the members and communities we serve.
So as we observe National Cooperative Month (and the 145th anniversary of Edison perfecting the incandescent lightbulb), let’s not only celebrate the many different ways we light up our lives, but the people who have made it possible these last 87 years.