2021 Annual Report: Celebrating 85 Years of Service

Chloe Schrader
Jack Broughton -
Colorado Mesa University
scholarship
Fiona Richards
Grand valley power
scholarship
Jonas Saunders
Grand valley power
scholarship
Ryenn Nolan
Grand valley power
scholarship
Amanda Moran
Grand valley power
scholarship
Jacob Weaver
Grand valley power
scholarship
Elizabeth Ballard
Grand valley power
scholarship
Coy sears
Western colorado community college
Electric Lineworker
scholarship
Perhaps in a time where it could
have been easy to “throw our hands up”
or just simply cancel events or community
partnerships due to uncertainty that 2020
challenged us with, we saw this as a time to reinvent and
innovate the way we communicate. Concern for community
is one of our seven cooperative principles which we
are guided by. Even more, we found empowerment in our
community where we came together through the peak of
the coronavirus. Of course, we canceled in-person meetings
such as our monthly board of directors meeting and
annual meeting. Instead, we pivoted to support our community
and make these events accessible through technology,
online and social media. We continued to answer
the call and found ways to make it happen because our
members are what drive us.
The Board of Directors had the foresight to know
our members were struggling with stay-at-home orders
which found many member homes scrambling to pay
essential bills – shelter, food, clothing and utilities were
among those most of concern. The quick decisiveness
of our board, drove us to innovate the GVP Hometown
Relief Fund which was launched in April 2020. The board
approved $100,000 in funding to help our members who
were financially impacted by Covid-19. “After Covid hit,
my husband lost 75% of his income. I have started working
overtime to compensate what I can, but with the loss
of money we haven’t been able to buy our kid’s warmer
clothes, fix our vehicles and are barely able to make our
monthly bills. Food has also become scarce and unhealthy,
as we’ve had to cut down cost. We never thought
we’d be in this situation. You have no idea how much this
helps,” stated one anonymous member. The Hometown
Relief Fund was made available for members for 345
days. Grand Valley Power was able to help 650 families in
a time of need and allocated $65,000 total through March
2021 in bill credits.
Another way was reinventing our member appreciation
“Glow Halloween” safety event. Typically, we host
an in-person gathering where we invite our community
to stop by our office to pick up glow sticks, Halloween
goodies and fun activities during the few days before Halloween.
Our table is normally full of items that adults and
kids can sift through while gathering in our lobby which is
transformed with haunting music, floating ghosts, creepy
spiders, and our employees in spooky attire. As you know,
restrictions limited the way events and gatherings could
be conducted. We filed our event plan with Mesa County
Public Health and were given the green light to proceed.
Instead of our typical event, we invited guests the opportunity
to grab prepacked goodie bags through a curbside
pickup. Much like you would find with many restaurants
and grocery stores, we too had a new way to deliver the
goods by texting us when you arrived. We still dressed our
best and greeted our community with smiles and activities
for both indoor and outdoor activities. The event was
widely popular with over 600 families that stopped by
during the two days. The event also made national headlines
with the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association
(NRECA) Spotlight on Excellence awards where
Grand Valley Power placed first for Best Event. The Spotlight
on Excellence Awards program recognizes a body of
outstanding work produced by electric cooperative communication
and marketing professionals from across the
country.
Haley Gray
Youth Tour scholarship
AMARAH THOMPSON
Youth Tour scholarship
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Pictured left: GVP Customer service representative, Debra whiteside (retired
2020), GVP Board of director Rod martinez (left-back), and gvp service planner,
Tony ippolito (right), help pack bags for deployed armed forces for operation
interdependence. in 2020, we raised $5,265 in funds and packed 1,000 boxes for our
military.
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