Washington Electric Co-op employees share Christmas spirit with National Guard families

As individuals and communities all over Vermont welcome members of the Vermont National Guard home from deployment, the employees of Washington Electric Cooperative have expressed their thanks and support by donating dozens of Christmas gifts to needy, local Guard families with children. The $1,400 worth of gifts ‘ from a small bicycle with training wheels, to kitchen play sets and other toys, to children’s clothing and gifts for teen-agers and adults ‘ were purchased with $700 raised among the Co-op’s employees and a matching contribution by Washington Electric’s ‘Community Fund.’
‘This is amazing,’ said Joyce Cloutier, Family Assistance Specialist with the Guard’s Family Readiness Program, on December 20 as she surveyed a large conference table loaded with gifts at the Co-op’s East Montpelier headquarters. More gifts, wrapped and ready for the tree, were piled on chairs and on the floor in the conference room. ‘It’s extremely generous. I had expected to find about four or five gifts for each of the family members, and that would have been plenty!’
Cloutier will see to it that the gifts are distributed to three military families in the central Vermont area. WEC’s employees were told the ages of all the family members, and learned something about their circumstances from Cloutier, who also provided wish lists from each person to guide the Co-op’s volunteer shoppers in their selections. The families’ identities, however, were not disclosed.
‘They remain anonymous,’ Cloutier explained. ‘We protect them fiercely.’
WEC presently has 38 employees, and General Manager Avram Patt said most if not all of them contributed to the fundraising effort. Their express desire was to assist families with a parent serving in, or just returned from, Iraq or Afghanistan.
‘Once someone suggested the idea it just took off,’ said Patt. ‘People jumped at the chance to do this as a group. It meant a lot to them.’
Usually at the Christmas holiday WEC’s employees share inexpensive gifts with each other by organizing a ‘Yankee Swap.’ That ritual was put aside this year to concentrate on giving to the military families in need.
‘After they had raised $700,’ said Patt, ‘they asked if I would authorize a contribution from the Community Fund, and that was a no-brainer; when we can combine the resources of the fund with something so important to our employees it’s an opportunity you don’t miss.’
WEC’s Community Fund is financed by voluntary contributions from Washington Electric’s membership. The utility annually distributes capital-credit refunds for past years in which WEC’s revenues exceeded its costs ‘ a ‘profit’ for investor-owned utilities, but as a co-op WEC’s owners are its electric customers. The refunds are provided as a credit on members’ November electric bills (or as cash to former members), but members can donate the money to the Community Fund instead, and thousands do. The Community Fund provides modest grants to a variety of community-oriented organizations serving the central Vermont area.
With $1,400 now available, the employees contacted the Vermont National Guard and were directed to Cloutier, one of 10 Family Assistance Specialists with the Family Readiness Program. Cloutier’s territory primarily covers Washington and Orange counties. Stationed in Berlin at the National Guard Armory, Cloutier can be reached at 802-223-2975.
‘We’re a resource and referral service for people in the National Guard and all branches of the military, currently serving and going all the way back to World War II,’ said Cloutier. The Family Readiness Program can tap into 14 funds ‘ federal, state, and military ‘ and Cloutier maintains close contact with veterans groups and other social-service resources.
For the holiday season Cloutier has been selecting families for the Wrap Around project. ‘We pick families based on need,’ she said, ‘particularly those will little kids who believe in Santa. With Daddy coming home [from deployment] we don’t want that to be a time of disappointment.’
For the employees of Washington Electric Cooperative, the holiday project served at least two purposes, said one worker. It expressed their appreciation to the Guard members and concern for their wellbeing, and, the worker added, ‘it makes you appreciate what you have.’
Washington Electric Cooperative is a consumer-owned, democratically governed utility that serves 10,000 households, farms, schools and businesses in 41 central Vermont towns.