Case in Point
“What’s on your bucket list?”
I posed this question to members of the Oregon Rural Electric Cooperative Association Board of Directors during a recent dinner in Central Oregon. Their answers—from being able to downhill ski at age 90 to soloing a private plane across the United States—made my aspirations to hike portions of the Pacific Crest Trail seem modest by comparison.
But I should not have been surprised. That same spirit of adventure shows up in their leadership of this statewide organization. Whether traveling to Salem or Washington, D.C., to lobby on critical issues such as wildfire or consistently volunteering to be the first in the nation to test new co-op training programs, the 18 ORECA board members never shy away from a challenge.
They are willing to take big swings on initiatives like our humanitarian work in Guatemala, which aims to bring electricity to impoverished villages. In this case, the swing produced a home run.
This month marks a transition in that leadership as Salem Electric’s Joe Van Meter steps down after 2 years as board president. Joe’s passion for co-ops, his advocacy on legislative issues, and his efforts to update ORECA policies have left a lasting mark. Fortunately, he stays on our executive committee as past president as he prepares—way down the road—for that bucketlist goal of skiing Mount Hood at age 90.
Joe passes the gavel to incoming president Ron Holmes of Wasco Electric Cooperative—another deeply experienced and committed co-op leader—who has it on his list to someday fly his small plane across our great country. Ron undoubtedly will work with the rest of the board to chart an exciting course for ORECA’s future. In the meantime, I’m inspired to break in some new boots for my hike of the entire length of the Pacific Crest Trail.
Executive Director Ted Case
