Gibson Electric Membership Corporation, partners, and member-owners recognized the contributions of several community groups in the cooperative’s local service area at the annual Gibson Electric Member Appreciation Event held at the Troy Member Service Center last week.
Jessica Toliver, Gibson Electric Community and Member Engagement Specialist, presented over $25,000 in funding to several nonprofit organizations through CoBank Sharing Success, TVA Community Care Fund and TVA economic development funding.
Grant Recipients:
OUTside Inn received a $5,000 CoBank Sharing Success grant to be used to on its new venture – a 4,500-sq.-ft. home in rural Obion County that will serve as a place where six to eight women and their children can live in community and receive counseling, recovery support and training in life skills and sober parenting at no cost to them.
The Obion County Rescue Squad also received a $5,000 CoBank Sharing Success grant to support the group’s continuing efforts to provide services in fires, disasters, search and rescue and more.
The Obion County Chamber of Commerce received a $1,500 Community Care Fund grant. The chamber plans to use $750 for a poverty simulation and $750 for its Adult Leadership Program’s annual community resource fair.
Trudy’s Kids Café received a $5,000 Community Care Fund grant to help boost its efforts to feed children in Obion, Gibson and Lake counties.
Reelfoot Rural Ministries also received a $5,000 Community Care Fun grant to help provide groceries, dental care and eye care to West Tennessee residents of all ages.
The City of Hornbeak received $5,000 from Gibson Electric and TVA. These funds support efforts such as RFI completion, site and building assistance, marketing and promotion of available sites, recruitment activities and more.
Grant Programs
A cooperative bank serving Gibson Electric and Gibson Connect and other rural infrastructure providers, CoBank launched Sharing Success to match donations by the bank’s customers to nonprofit organizations in 2012. Gibson Electric and Gibson Connect have awarded over $200,000 through Sharing Success.
The Community Care Fund was created by TVA in response to COVID-19 with the first round of funding launched in April 2020. Gibson Electric is proud to participate in this matching fund program and has disbursed over $137,000 to nonprofit organizations supporting education, workforce development and training, arts and culture, community enrichment, disaster relief and response, and health, hunger and housing.
Gibson Electric is a local, not-for-profit, member-owned and member-controlled electric cooperative serving more than 39,000 homes and businesses in eight west Tennessee counties (Crockett, Dyer, Gibson, Haywood, Lake, Madison, Obion and Weakley) and four west Kentucky counties (Carlisle, Fulton, Graves and Hickman). Gibson Connect is a wholly-owned, not-for-profit subsidiary of Gibson Electric, working to provide high-speed, fiber-based broadband service access to all the cooperative’s eligible members.
