Volunteers Help Host Community During National Annual Meeting

One crew paints a home in New Orleans prior to a co-op meeting.

When electric cooperative directors, managers and staff members attend the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association annual meeting each year, several of them participate in projects to help whichever city is hosting the event. Earlier this year, before COVID-19 became a pandemic, New Orleans, Louisiana, was the destination.

Co-op volunteers repair the inside of a home in need.

More than 100 volunteers from electric co-ops around the country arrived in New Orleans a day early to make repairs on five homes in need. The volunteers joined forces with Rebuilding Together New Orleans to work in the city’s Gentilly and Carrolton neighborhoods. They hung drywall, repaired siding, painted, built wheelchair ramps and more.

These projects marked the fourth national service day in New Orleans since 2005, when the community service day became part of the annual event. Since then, projects have been completed in San Diego, California; Nashville, Tennessee; and Orlando, Florida.