October 2025 Cooperative Living

COOPERATIVE NEWS

A Co-op Time to Shine

by Preston Knight, Communication Manager

This month is a popular one in the cooperative world, as October is recognized as National Co-op Month.

You may not know this year has also been our designated year to stand out.

The United Nations declared 2025 as the International Year of Cooperatives. This led to a call to celebrate the more than 3 million co-ops worldwide, comprising about a billion members, according to the International Cooperative Alliance.

The theme for the year is “Cooperatives Build a Better World.”

In the electric co-op space, that initiative can take many shapes. Some have literally built a better world by visiting unserved places to construct powerlines, which SVEC has done in previous years in Guatemala and Bolivia. Others in the network of about 900 electric cooperatives have adopted a more local touch, working closely with

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other types of cooperatives in their service areas.

“Electric cooperatives are a prime example of what the U.N. is talking about,” says Doug O’Brien, president and CEO of the National Cooperative Business Association CLUSA International, whose members include electric co-ops, credit unions, housing co-ops, food and agricultural co-ops, and more. “Electric co-ops provide people — mostly rural people — with affordable and reliable electricity. That has ensured, for generations now, that rural communities can participate in the modern economy.”

At SVEC, it’s largely been business as usual in 2025 — our 89th year of service. But in the spirit of Co-op Month and the International Year of Cooperatives, let’s stray from our normal magazine copy to hear from some of our 80,000-plus members about why cooperatives and SVEC shine. •

“Shenandoah Valley Co-op has always assisted us in every major electrical need we have had over the last 50 years. Personnel are very good to work with and always provide a positive experience. We trust them above all other required utilities and always come away from every interaction feeling very positive and appreciate the professionalism.”

– Kim Welliver

“Early in my professional life, I worked for Central Power and Light Company in south Texas. There, I learned a good bit about the advantages of cooperative electric service as opposed to shareholder-driven business models. We found Shenandoah Valley Electric Co-op employees to be exceptionally capable and civil.”

– Bruce Dorries

“SVEC is a remarkably reliable electric co-op. With the rare outages in this rural, heavily-treed part of Virginia, SVEC has crews making repairs with headspinning-speed. And if service cannot be restored in two hours, their calls, texts and outage website keeps one informed to the minute! And now they are using drones, exploring solar, and keeping ahead with careful adoption of new tech. Doesn’t get better than that. Reassuring to any customers who follow all the progress in the Co-op bulletin.”

– Elizabeth Bancroft

As So the Journey Begins …

After years of training, life is just getting started for co-op lineman

by Preston Knight, Communication Manager

Commitment is hard, and when professional and personal lives intersect, it makes it even more of a challenge.

As an SVEC lineman, Mason Lam has committed to providing an essential service at any time to Valley residents as well as maintaining a safe environment for his own wellbeing and that of his fellow crew members. There are no shortcuts here.

Newly engaged, he has committed to helping provide for his family and putting his needs on the same level as others, even when he may be sluggish after long storm restoration hours or out-of-state travel. Shortcuts are not welcome here, either.

But as those professional and personal elements collided in August, when Lam graduated from a fouryear training program just weeks after proposing to his girlfriend, the puzzle pieces fit.

“It’s definitely a sacrifice, but you have to find a happy medium,” he

says. “I like the challenge [of being a lineman]. Honestly, leaving home and working, knowing that you’re going to be gone all day, it’s a satisfaction thing. You’re doing something good for the community.”

LEARN, AND THEN LEARN MORE

Lam and SVEC classmate

Steadman Green are the latest co-op linemen to graduate from apprentice to journeyman status. In Lam’s case, he completed all eight steps of the training program offered through the Virginia, Maryland & Delaware Association of Electric Cooperatives while employed by SVEC. Green, who came from Northern Virginia Electric Cooperative, slotted in at the fourth step, based on his previous experience.

This is the conclusion of a four-year series tracking SVEC apprentice linemen in their training to become journeymen.

thrown into more roles of leadership and responsibility.”

During a brief graduation ceremony, J.T. Jacobs, a former SVEC lineman now serving as the manager of safety training at the association, leaned on advice he heard early on in his career from a now-retired co-op lineman of four decades. It’s a message he often shares at these events.

SVEC linemen Mason Lam and Steadman Green graduated to become journeyman lineworkers in August.

“Learn something new every day,” Jacobs said. “The day you think you know it all, is the day you become a bad lineman. I still think about that.”

Training grinds their brains, for sure. The eight steps require reading 40 books and taking 41 tests, Jacobs said. The final step was all classwork, as the apprentices learned more about data and operating systems.

“I learned a lot and became a better lineman,” he says. “You pick up different ways to do things.”

Their class featured a mix of personnel from electric cooperatives, private companies and municipalowned utilities. The diversity of the group adds to the education, they say.

“All these different companies do different stuff than we do, so we get to see how everybody else does it,” Lam says. “Hopefully, now I’ll get

“It’s definitely not the easiest thing to go through,” Jacobs said.

Likewise, Jonathan Hines, the electric operations supervisor at BARC, an electric cooperative based in Millboro, didn’t shy away from stating some of the obvious for those in the room. Lineworkers face long hours and unpredictable problems, he said.

“At its core, this profession is about service,” Hines said during graduation. “Storms, they don’t have

a clock or calendar. Squirrels don’t care that it’s Christmas morning.”

He urged the class to keep three motivations in mind. Echoing Jacobs, he said lineworkers must commit to always learning, share knowledge to help future generations and

understand safety is not optional.

“It’s the foundation of this trade,” Hines said. “Hold your peers and leadership to the same high standards.”

Lam sounds ready, if the smallest of interactions are any indication. After graduation, as Hunter Johnson, a classmate from MPD Electric Cooperative in South Carolina, was about to leave, Lam’s parting words were simple.

“Be careful man, work safe,” he said. “Be careful going home.”

In Lam’s case, there’s more involved with heading home now when the work is done. It’s what he committed to in his journey.

About This Series

“It’s definitely difficult but you have to remember he’s sacrificing for us and our future family,” says Rorry Allebaugh, Lam’s fiancée. “I just admire him for how big he is into his work.” •

In March 2022, we embarked on capturing an SVEC apprentice lineman’s path to becoming a journeyman, the next step in their career. The intent was to better show the person behind the rubber-gloved, hard-hatted figures who keep the lights on. It takes eight steps to make that leap, spread out every six months, with each step taking one week. That means it’s four years of training, which for this assignment called for committing to four years of documenting the journey in the local pages of Cooperative Living.

The goal was to spend parts of a day with an SVEC group on eight total occasions, culminating in its graduation from the program in August 2025. We’re not sure if the linemen knew they were randomly selected for this adventure, but along the way, they cooperated to help tell the story of a lineworker.

And, to be frank, when we say “they,” we must single out Rockingham lineworker Mason Lam, the only one of the original SVEC group from March 2022, for various reasons, to be there literally every step of the way.

How’s he feel about no longer being featured?

“It doesn’t matter to me. I’m not going to be that upset about it,” Lam says. “I’m going to miss coming to school, though.”

Same Name, Different Fame

These co-op members are well known. You just don’t know them.

by Preston Knight, Communication Manager

Traveling makes for, coincidentally, a broken record for James Taylor of Winchester.

“Every time I check into a hotel, the clerk asks, ‘Are you the James Taylor?” he says. “I’m taller than he is, I can’t sing, and I think my wife is prettier. That’s my canned line.”

Doubling as the namesake of the Grammy-winning, Rock & Roll Hall

James Taylor

of Fame singer-songwriter provides some good laughs. Taylor — the local one — is one of a handful of SVEC members who share the distinction of being tied to a famous person through their name, leading to decades, if not a lifetime, of well-intended wisecracks and memorable misidentification.

What better time than October as National Co-op Month to give these members the publicity someone else has taken from them?

“My grandfather was James Taylor. He was a diesel mechanic who got off the boat from Ireland,” Taylor says. “Nobody ever asks me if I was him.”

WHAT WOULD YOU SAY?

Some names, such as Taylor’s, are admittedly of the common variety, making it unsurprising that they have a distinguished match, the co-op members say. It could be a much more obvious label — for example, if you were a Kardashian, Taylor Swift or Sylvester Stallone. None of those exist in SVEC records, and they surely would have been mercilessly accosted regarding their name, including for this article.

belonging to a generation who would have grown up while his namesake, whose band formed in Charlottesville, was in his heyday. However, Matthews, the rocker, remains popular and offers a conversation starter for anyone with the same designation.

“My grandfather was James Taylor. He was a diesel mechanic who got off the boat from Ireland. Nobody ever asks me if I was him.”

– James Taylor, Winchester resident

The rather straightforward nature behind his name is one reason everywhere David Matthews, of Augusta County, has lived, he hasn’t seemed to be alone, though he’s the only one he’s aware of in the southern part of the Valley. When he lived in Richmond, there were eight other listings for “David Matthews” in the phone book.

In the 1990s, at peak fame for rocker Dave Matthews, sharing the name could have been considered the biggest badge of honor, maybe even too much of one.

“I got a letter from someone who wanted to have my baby,” the local Matthews says. “All I can guess is she was sending them to every Dave Matthews.”

A retired teacher, he has 13 grandchildren, none

“I tell people I’m the original,” says Matthews, the SVEC member.

That’s harder for Andrew Griffith, of Luray, to do.

The famed actor Andy Griffith died in 2012 at the age of 86, a significant age gap from the local co-op member. The younger Griffith doesn’t play up to the name too much, getting called Andrew more than Andy today, at least among colleagues.

He laments not being able to easily find reruns of “The Andy Griffith Show,” which gave us other legendary characters like Barney Fife, Gomer Pyle and Opie. None of them can be matched in SVEC records, and you

Andrew Griffith

Lance

won’t find any pets, or anything else for that matter, inspired by the television show at the local Griffith’s household.

“Absolutely not,” he says with a laugh.

But Griffith has no resentment toward the name. It’s provided additional entertainment in his family’s life.

“My dad went to work,” he says, “and a guy would like to tell everyone, ‘I work with Andy Griffith’s dad.’”

TAKING GOOD WITH THE BAD

One must hope it’s for a positive reason that there are links between names. It would have to be disappointing to have a name that gets ruined by scandal.

SVEC’s Lance Armstrong knows the highs and lows. The well-known man by the same name is the cycling world’s most famous athlete who led the 2000’s “Livestrong” yellow bracelet movement to fundraise for cancer research. The cyclist’s starpower would later fade after he admitted to using performance-enhancing drugs.

The local Armstrong has taken it in stride, and the good has far outweighed the bad.

“It comes up every time I call a consumer,” says Armstrong, a field engineering representative in Augusta County. “They wonder where they’ve heard that name. I tell them it’s the

cyclist. And then it kicks in, ‘Oh yeah, are you going to be riding your bicycle?’

“I think I’m older than him. He stole my name.”

His name experience is twofold, in fact.

“People get me confused with Neil Armstrong,” he says. “They think I’m the guy who went to the moon.”

Like Armstrong, she works in customer service, putting her name in front of people constantly. And they all are delighted to say they have met Betty White, she says.

“I still get that after she’s passed,” says White, referring to the actress’ death in 2021.

These names can affect family too. White’s youngest son recently was in a situation where he needed to prove his identity at the airport after he lost his wallet. The clerk was highly skeptical when he said his mom was Betty White.

It also didn’t help that his dad, Betty’s husband, is Jack White, the namesake of the lead singer for the White Stripes.

“They had to be thinking, ‘This guy is nuts,’” Betty White says of her son’s predicament.

Betty White

One person who never had to worry about scandal is Luray’s Betty White, whose actress namesake was beloved by multiple generations.

“If I can be just half as nice as she was,” White says, “I would be doing just fine.”

That’s a part of life most of the world doesn’t have to live. It’s a same name with a far different level of fame.

“It’s entertaining,” says Taylor, the Winchester resident. “All you can do is laugh.” •

Where There’s a Will, There’s a Way to Go

Nonprofit receives matching grant from CoBank for transportation assistance program

by Lydia Weaver, Community Relations Specialist

Way to Go’s work is exactly what it sounds like: assisting people in finding reliable transportation. It helps facilitate car donations, ride-share gift cards, maintenance costs, car loans and support with car and insurance payments. A way for individuals to go anywhere they may need.

“Our primary goal is to get working families and working individuals in a vehicle that is reliable for them to get to and from work,” Executive Director Ashley Gordon-Becker says. “[We support] those basic needs that they have — getting to healthcare appointments, getting their kids from school, getting them to the grocery store.”

Due to the Harrisonburg-based nonprofit’s community impact, it is one of four Valley recipients of a CoBank Sharing Success grant, each valued at $2,500. The grant program gives back to organizations supported by electric cooperatives each year. Way to Go, as well as Living Legacy in Luray, Family Promise Northern Shenandoah Valley in Winchester and Emmanuel Episcopal Church in Woodstock each received funding from SVEC through the Operation Round Up program.

FUNDS GOING THE EXTRA MILE

Despite only Gordon-Becker and a client services supervisor on staff to run it, Way to Go provided services to more than 200 people last year. The organization limits how many times any one person can be assisted, and it works with other local nonprofits to determine eligibility and connect to those in need. Way to Go also only accepts clients who are currently employed and work at least 30 hours per week.

Gordon-Becker says many clients are shift workers, and starting shifts in the middle of the night leaves few opportunities to use ride-sharing apps or bus routes.

Way to Go, of Harrisonburg, received co-op grant support to carry out its mission of providing transportation assistance.

“We’re giving back to families and individuals who are giving back to their community, that are in our workforce here, that are keeping our community running,” Gordon-Becker says.

Grant funds will go directly to Way to Go’s transportation assistance program and will be especially helpful to those who do not meet the need specifications of other grants. That includes individuals or families without children who either do not qualify or the grants are not applicable to them. This demographic, Gordon-Becker says, is the biggest area of financial deficit for the program.

“That is why grants like the one we received from [SVEC] and the match from CoBank are so important. We do a large quantity of work for just two people and for a good portion of the community,” Gordon-Becker says. “That’s $5,000 in total from SVEC and CoBank. We can use that toward individuals and families who do not have children in the household, which is wonderful.”

Recently, Gordon-Becker had the pleasure of seeing the children’s excitement when a mother of three who received a donated car filmed their reactions. Usually coordinating rides with friends or family, the mother was able to surprise her kids in the school pick-up line herself.

“The mom sent us a video of her picking all the kids up from their different schools and them seeing the car for the first time,” Gordon-Becker says. “We see when the parents or adults get the vehicle and pick it up but don’t usually get to see the kids like that. Just seeing those kids, immediately they’re like: ‘Oh my gosh! Did we get a new car?’ It was so heartwarming.” •

Visit these websites to learn more about the CoBank recipients

• Way to Go: w2ginc.org

• Living Legacy: livinglegacylurayva.org

• Family Promise Northern Shenandoah Valley: familypromisensv.org

• Emmanuel Episcopal Church: shenandoahepiscopalians.org/foodpantry

Cyber Fortress Tests Co-ops’ Virtual Incident Response

by Preston Knight, Communication Manager

Cybersecurity is much like the physical demands of a lineworker: There’s considerable risk if security is compromised, even for a second.

That led electric cooperative representatives, including several from SVEC, to Cyber Fortress 25, hosted by the 91st Cyber Brigade — the Army National Guard’s first and only cyber brigade. The event was held in August at the State Military Reservation near Virginia Beach.

The annual exercise, focused this year on electric cooperatives, provides an opportunity to test Virginia’s cyber response plan, better prepare for future collective responses and build resiliency, according to the Virginia National Guard.

While October is recognized nationally as Cybersecurity Awareness Month, Cyber Fortress shows that the need to protect the electric grid from digital threats requires a daily emphasis.

“Cybersecurity is an important investment SVEC makes to protect our reliability of service,” says Joel Dove, the cooperative’s director of security and enterprise infrastructure. “SVEC receives countless daily attempts [for] information bad actors may use for everything from personal exploitation of members to impacting electric operations.

“The investment SVEC makes in technology and talented employees protecting our members from a cyberattack is unparalleled.”

Over 250 National Guard service

members and numerous public and private sector organizations attended Cyber Fortress, including Dominion Energy, the Virginia Department of Emergency Management, the FBI and over a dozen other organizations that have a stake in the security of operational technology and critical infrastructure. The exercise fosters vital partnerships and improves Virginia’s preparedness for cyberattacks, the National Guard says.

“Our world has been and will continue to be subjected to the threats of what we know and what we don’t in society,” SVEC cybersecurity engineer Jason Pence says.

“It’s influenced by numerous forces of nature and mankind that prioritize safety and reliability for SVEC members above all else we do.” •

October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month

SVEC Offers Renewable Energy Certificates

For members interested in seeing the development and expansion of utility-scale renewable energy sources, SVEC offers a 100% Renewable Energy Attributes Electric Service Rider, referred to as Rider R. This rider is available to residential members on a voluntary basis as a companion rate to their current residential electric service. After a member signs up, an additional charge of $0.015 per kilowatt-hour is added to the monthly bill. This is a sell-at-cost charge with no profit or added fee for SVEC but does allow you to help SVEC source more of our electricity from renewable energy sources, further diversifying our portfolio.

For every 1,000 kWh sold under Rider R, SVEC will purchase a renewable energy certificate from our wholesale power provider, Old Dominion Electric Cooperative. The certificates are produced every time a renewable source, such as a solar array or windmill, generates 1,000 kWh. At this time, all certificates offered by ODEC will be sourced from one or more of the following:

• Armenia Mountain Wind Farm (north-central Pennsylvania);

• Stony Creek Wind Farm (southwestern Pennsylvania); and/or

• Criterion Wind Farm (western Maryland).

You can sign up or get more information by contacting SVEC at 1-800-234-7832 or by visiting our website at svec.coop/rider.