Shedding Light on Hunger Wins Community Service Challenge
WWVREMC awarded $10,000 for program

The Whitewater Valley REMC Shedding Light on Hunger program has received national recognition by winning the NRECA Community Service Challenge. Entries were voted on during the NRECA INTERACT conference held in July. Conference attendees voted for the community service effort that best demonstrated the concern for community principle as shown by the percentage of co-op employees taking part and the impact of the co-op’s campaign. As the winner WWVREMC will receive $10,000 for the Shedding Light on Hunger program from United Healthcare and NRECA.

100% of funding for the Shedding Light on Hunger program comes from employees of the cooperative, donations from the cooperative’s partners and money raised from the annual charity golf tournament.

Shedding Light on Hunger – How it Started
The creation of the Shedding Light on Hunger program supports one of the cooperative principles – Concern for Community. It began in 2012 as a  food collection and distribution program to help our local food banks keep their shelves filled. 100% of funding for the Shedding Light on Hunger program comes from employees of the cooperative, donations from the cooperative’s partners and money raised from the annual charity golf tournament.

For years, the cooperative held an annual holiday food drive collecting food items and distributing them to local food pantries and organizations. WWVREMC had also been giving away CFL and LEDs to members to promote lighting efficiency. Asking members to donate canned food items in exchange for LEDs was the beginning of the program.

How it Works
Members swap out their non-perishable food items for highly efficiency LED bulbs. Our members have kept the collection barrels full with their generous donations. Together, we have delivered thousands of pounds of food to local food banks who help distribute the donated items to local individuals and families.

Growing the Program
In 2017, we expanded the program to address food insecurity throughout our service territory with a charity golf tournament. All proceeds from this annual event benefit this on-going program.  Partnering with local organizations who work to help our communities, we continue to feed hungry Hoosiers through the Shedding Light on Hunger program. In past years, and with the help of our generous sponsors, we distributed lunch bags filled with food purchased using funds raised during the charity golf tournament. All bags were given to local children within the cooperative’s service area.

For more information about the program contact Sandy Cason at scason@wwvremc.com.