Cooperatives around the world operate according to a core set of principles -- the Seven Cooperative Principles. These basic tenets, along with the purpose of improving quality of life for their members, make electric cooperatives different from other electric utilities. Two of the principles -- Education, Training & Information and Commitment to Community were demonstrated by Pioneer employees during April.

Pioneer hosted the monthly meeting for the Miami County Safety Council. The group watched as three of our linemen showed how dangerous electricity can be -- whether you are working around the home or outside the house. They also explained and demonstrated why staying inside your car is usually the safest place to be if your are involved in an accident with electric lines or utility poles. The same evening we had the Springcreek Front Runners 4H club in to see the safety demo as well.

We also had the opportunity to present our table  top safety demo to the fourth and fifth grade classes at Ft. Loramie Elementary School.  The  students where told about the dangers of water and electricity together and why they shouldn't plug too many cords into an outlet. They also learned not to play around the big green boxes -- pad mount transformers -- in some people's yards, or around substations. 

Electricity makes just about everybody's life easier, but we must learn to respect it and stay safe while using it. We care about our members and the public, this is why Pioneer Electric Cooperatives takes the time to perform these safety demos.  We want you to be safe around electricity!

Students from Piqua's Greene Street Preschool visited the Piqua headquarters on April 23 in honor of Arbor Day, April 24. Eleven students celebrated the tree holiday by digging in the dirt to help Pioneer arborist, Danny Bagwell plant a new birch tree in front of the office building. In addition to teaching the children the proper way to plant a tree, Bagwell explained the overall benefits of trees and showed them various pine cones and nuts they produce. He concluded by sharing the importance of safety around trees and powerlines.

To show our linemen how much we appreciate what they do every day and sometimes night, in every type of weather, we had Thank You banners made and hung in our lineman areas of both offices for them to see when they came to work that morning. They started their day off with a catered breakfast featuring made to order omelets at the Piqua office. Ron Salyer, President/CEO & Doug Fox, Manager of Operations, both had a few words for the men. They each expressed their great appreciation to our dedicated linecrew. We are currently understaffed, but our outage response and restoral times continue to improve. This shows just how dedicated our linemen are to the members of Pioneer! #THANKALINEMAN