June 2017 MANAGER’S MESSAGE
Youth Tour
Dear Members,
This June, Benton REA will send two of our best and brightest local students to Washington, D.C. with the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association’s (NRECA) Electric Cooperative Youth Tour.
We are very proud to send Emily Bonus and Tyler Slade, both from West Richland, to our nation’s Capital. During their week-long trip, they will visit and experience many museums and memorials dedicated to the men and women who built and served this country. They will learn about the history of electric cooperatives, like Benton REA, and the role that cooperatives play in today’s culture and society.
Neither Emily, nor Tyler, have been to Washington D.C., so we hope this experience will not only be a memorable one, but one that creates a lasting impression and changes them forever in a positive way. We hope their experiences in Washington, D.C. will help them to become even more patriotic, more educated, and more capable of serving in the communities in which they will someday choose to live.
The NRECA Electric Cooperative Youth Tour embodies two of the seven cooperative principles that are endorsed by Benton REA and other cooperatives nationwide: “Education, Training and Information” as well as “Concern for Community”.
We care about the youth in our communities. They will take the lessons they have learned wherever they go, and hopefully they will choose to become positive, thoughtful leaders in their own communities.
Sincerely,
Michael J. Bradshaw
General Manager
mikeb@bentonrea.org
