Photo by Chase Toler
Emalee Mann, 17, of Abbeville, is the winner of the 2022 R.D. Bennett Community Service Scholarship sponsored by South Carolina’s electric cooperatives. Mann won a $5,000 prize for her community service project: Boxes and Bottles of Blessings.
Mann was among 49 high school students who participated this summer in the Washington Youth Tour—a six-day trip to our nation’s capital sponsored by the state’s electric co-ops. Mann represented her local co-op, Little River Electric Cooperative.
As part of the summer experience, students were encouraged to create and implement a community service project in their local communities. Five students, including Mann, completed projects during the summer. The project determined to have the largest community impact won the $5,000 scholarship.
Mann’s project involved holding canned good food drives to benefit the United Christian Ministries of Abbeville County (UCMAC) and the Lowndesville Food Pantry, collecting money and donations to provide goody-filled water bottles for deserving children, and collecting school supplies for the Diamond Hill Elementary School Supply Closet. She also raised and donated more than $1,200 to UCMAC to assist people with electric bills, medical services and more.
“I saw the joy on the faces of the students at the schools and the families at the food pantries and remembered how joy should not come from having the nicest clothes or the newest technology,” said Mann. “I also saw how thankful I was to have the amazing community that I have. Their willingness to give showed me that there are still wonderful, kind, and God-following people in this world.”
“Emily’s detailed planning and follow-through really impressed the judges,” said Van O’Cain, Director of Public & Member Relations for The Electric Cooperatives of South Carolina, Inc.—the trade association for the state’s co-ops. “Our goal with this competition is to give our young people a chance to positively impact their community, and boy did Emalee do just that! I’m so proud of what she accomplished.”
Mann attends Dixie High School in Due West. She is the daughter of William and Alyssa Mann.
The R.D. Bennett Community Service Scholarship is named for Robert D. Bennett, the first general manager and executive vice president of The Electric Cooperatives of South Carolina, Inc. Mr. Bennett, who led the state association from 1950 until his retirement in 1980, strongly believed that electric cooperatives should support their local communities—providing a better quality of life for their members. His spirit of community service is reflected in this scholarship opportunity.