Mike Couick
First responders act quickly and selflessly in responding to the urgent needs of their neighbors. These men and women—whether they wear a badge, carry a hose or drive an ambulance—are whom we depend upon in our most desperate moments.
In the electric cooperative world, we view our lineworkers as first responders. Their jobs often require them to leave their homes in the middle of the night to restore power or work long hours in harsh conditions to rebuild lines taken down by a severe storm.
But there is another group I liken to first responders. For 40 years, S.C. WIRE (Women Involved in Rural Electrification) has come to the aid of people in need, and they stand ready to do it again and again.
Founded in 1981 as a nonprofit organization and the charitable arm of many local electric cooperatives, the organization includes co-op members, employees, wives of employees, co-op retirees, trustees and wives of trustees. When your read about WIRE’s long history of helping South Carolina families and communities, some of the group’s most durable projects are the ones in which someone calls and says, “We’ve got a problem, and we need your help.”
That happened in 2012 when then-Lt. Gov. Glenn McConnell contacted the electric cooperatives and asked for help. A long-term care facility was being closed for health and safety reasons, forcing the displacement of its elderly residents to other facilities across the state. These senior citizens were given black garbage bags to pack up their belongings—clothes, toothbrushes, Bibles and family pictures. As they waited for transportation to their next destination, the makeshift luggage was left in a hallway.
That day happened to be trash day. By an unfortunate mistake, all of the residents’ possessions, their memories and personal items that helped them maintain their dignity, were thrown away. The bags were at a landfill before anyone noticed.
In response, WIRE members from across the state got together and packed 50 duffel bags with more than two dozen personal items like soaps, shampoos and toothbrushes for the residents. They couldn’t replace the most valuable things they’d lost, but they did restore some of that dignity and, in doing so, established a new project called “Co-op Closet.”
Since then, WIRE members “value shop” for those personal supplies, including blankets, clothes and toiletries. Each spring, they gather to pack another 50 duffel bags for the S.C. Department on Aging. Now, whenever residents in need must move to another care facility, they are provided one of these duffel bags.
In 2017, the women of WIRE took on a similar project they call “Kids Closet,” which works with the state Department of Education to help alleviate a growing problem in our state. Throughout South Carolina, thousands of teens are without a permanent or stable place to live. They often attend their high schools and middle schools without the benefit of the basic essentials their classmates take for granted.
WIRE chapters from across the state gather annually to assemble drawstring backpacks filled with soap, toothpaste, toothbrushes, deodorant, shampoo, lotion, feminine hygiene products and laundry detergent. The Department of Education then discretely distributes the bags to youth in need, allowing students to tend to their personal needs no matter where they sleep at night. In recent years, the students who participated in the Cooperative Youth Summit also helped assemble the backpacks during their visit to Columbia.
These are just two examples of WIRE meeting the needs of South Carolinians where they are at different ends of the generational spectrum. The chapters at many electric cooperatives across the state also respond to local needs with canned-goods drives for food banks, meal deliveries to shut-ins and fundraisers for neighbors with unexpected medical bills—just to mention a few of their initiatives.
I’m thankful our people are brave enough to protect us from danger and skilled enough to rescue us from disasters. I’m also grateful for WIRE, and all the groups like them, that respond to calls of need from whomever they come.
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A legacy of service—Women Involved in Rural Electrification (WIRE) celebrates 40 years of empowering co-op communities.