What’s good for the community, is good for our cooperative. That’s because we’re part of your community. We were built by the community, and we’re made up of employees that live and work in the community. Their children go to school with your children. They coach sports teams, attend church activities and serve on school committees. They are members just like you, and like you, they want to make their hometowns stronger.
This year we challenged our employees to donate at least 8 hours of their time, outside of working hours, to volunteer in the communities we serve. They exceeded our goal, and donated more than 350 hours of service to some great organizations!
One of our largest community service projects this year was at the Sinton Little League Fields. The Little League contacted us early this year and requested help replacing seven 55 ft. light poles that were damaged during Hurricane Harvey. Although we don’t provide service to the ballpark, we know it’s an important gathering place in our community, and agreed to donate the poles the Little League needed to repair their facility.
Then, our employees took our donation to the next level by volunteering their time to help make more improvements to the damaged ballpark. They spent two weekends repairing the concession stand by giving it a fresh coat of paint, rewiring the interior, rebuilding a set of stairs and patching the roof.
In September, our employees also invested time in a fundraiser for the Beeville Fire Department. They organized a BBQ fundraiser, did all the cooking and sold plates with brisket, sausage and all the trimmings. SPEC covered the cost of all the food and supplies, so the total amount raised during the fundraiser, $2,292.00, went directly to the Beeville Fire Department.
Our employees also organized a computer donation for STCH Ministries, formally South Texas Children’s Home. In the past, we have always destroyed our office computers when they were retired and no longer needed to ensure any sensitive information we store was destroyed. However, this year we found a way to ensure these computers were completely wiped clean so we could donate them.
Several of our employees volunteered their time to go install all eight computers at a couple of STCH locations and even taught the kids at the children’s home how the new computers worked.
In addition to these projects, we had employees volunteer their time at the San Patricio County SPCA, the New Beginnings Clothing Closet and the Muscle Up for Matt 5K.
Concern for Community is one of the founding principles of our cooperative. We’re proud of our employees for embracing and exemplifying our commitment to the communities we serve.