Brian Knowles, pictured with his family and Aiken Electric’s Jamacia McCray (right), is winner of the 2024 Who Powers You contest for his positive impact in the Monetta community.
Photo by Rebeccah Ogbuefi
Brian Knowles was in the fifth grade living in New York when terrorists crashed planes into the twin towers on September 11, 2001. Like everyone else around the nation, he was inspired by the courage and sacrifice New York City’s first responders showed that day and, in the days, afterward.
“I’ve always wanted to be able to wear a flag on my arm and serve in some capacity,” says Knowles, who now lives in Monetta where he is a member of the community’s volunteer fire department for the past two years. “Sometimes I can’t believe that I have the privilege be a part of the fire department here.”
Knowles’s humble commitment to serving his community is one reason he was selected as the winner of the 2024 Who Powers You Award, a contest sponsored by South Carolina’s electric cooperatives to recognize people who are making a positive impact and benefitting members of their cooperative. Knowles, a member of Aiken Electric Cooperative and resident of Monetta, received $500 from Aiken Electric as the local winner and $2,500 from The Electric Cooperatives of South Carolina as the state winner.
Knowles’s wife, Giovanna Lopez-Medina, nominated her husband for the award and shared a few examples of her husband “offering his skills and time to lend a hand,” such as picking up neighbors walking on Hwy. 1 and giving them a ride home or taking a recently widowed neighbor’s garbage to the dump each week, unsolicited.
“A man at the gas station had broken down,” writes Lopez-Medina. “Brian went home to pick up tools and came back to help the man change his starter out. It was hours of work for a complete stranger, and that’s the person he is.”
Knowles’s inspiration for his servant’s spirit can also be tied to his family and his fellow volunteers at the Monetta Community Volunteer Fire Department.
“I could tell you a thousand stories of things my grandfather and my father did for people,” he says. “And not only that, but the way the people in my fire department carry themselves. It gives me that push.”
Knowles was pushed into hazardous service the morning Hurricane Helene tore through the area in late September. He was responding to 911 calls when, as a tornado passed over him, he ran into a tree that had just fallen in front of his truck. The potentially fatal accident was even more traumatic for Knowles when learned of the death of the two firemen from nearby Circle Fire Department in Saluda County that same day.
“It was pretty heavy for me because we lost Chief (Chad) Satcher and Fireman (Landon) Bodie,” says Knowles. “I heard about them and knew that the same thing almost happened to me.”
Despite the accident, Knowles continued to do whatever he could in the aftermath of the storm. In addition to responding to emergency calls, he and his fellow firefighters cut hundreds of trees and limbs and cleared them from roadways.
“I’ll be honest, the concept of me getting this award is almost embarrassing to me,” says Knowles. “None of us in that department do the things we do and expect accolades. But if its inspirational to other people, that’s good a feeling.”