Bidding for OREMC’s Online Vehicle Auction Opens February 16
Working with JJ Kane Auctioneers, Okefenoke REMC is auctioning off retired fleet vehicles including two bucket trucks, two digger derrick trucks and two trenchers. The auction will take place online and bidding begins on Wednesday, February 16.
OREMC Accepting Applications for National Washington Youth Tour
OREMC is accepting applications from high school juniors attending school in the OREMC service area—Brantley, Camden, Charlton, Glynn, Ware and Wayne counties in Georgia, and Baker and Nassau counties in Florida—to compete for an all-expenses-paid trip on the 2022 Washington Youth Tour. This inspiring, week-long leadership trip offers participants the opportunity to experience U.S government and U.S. history first-hand while having fun, making new friends, and developing leadership skills.
Over and Out at OREMC
Linda Vaughn signs off for retirement
If you call Okefenoke REMC, her voice is the first one you hear helping guide you through the prompts in order to connect you with the person/department you are seeking. If you are an OREMC employee, one of your first encounters with Linda Vaughn is likely be in the kitchen where she has often been found cooking up mass quantities of food to feed an army of linemen during a major storm, a holiday meal fit for royalty or a big batch of brownies just because. While not officially part of her job, they get added in with the other balls in the air she juggles on a day-to-day basis as OREMC’s collection and meter dispatcher. However, on 2-2-22 Linda will sign off one final time and pass the radio to her successor.
OREMC Donation Helps Wayne County High School Science Program Gain STEAM
A weather balloon kit they had been waiting months for arrived the very day Okefenoke REMC presented the Wayne County High School STEAM—science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics—students a $2,500 check to support their club program and ongoing research.
A New Light on Life
Esther Woods readies for retirement
“The first thing I’m not going to do is get up at 5:30 a.m. and be driving in the dark,” exclaims Esther Woods, operations clerk at Okefenoke REMC, as she looks forward to her first days of retirement. Early mornings have been her routine since she first came to work at the OREMC Hillard, Florida, office as a meter reader on March 28, 1994. It was a decision that would shape her future more than she could have ever imagined.
OREMC Expands Information Technology Team
Assisting the mapping department in maintaining and updating the geographical information system (GIS) is the primary focus for Trevor Hendrix, Okefenoke REMC’s new GIS/IT Technician. Hendrix will play a critical role in OREMC’s Information Technology Division, auditing and recording workflow adjustments from staking design to construction in the field, then mapping the co-op’s real-time system accordingly.
OREMC Supports Ware County High School S.T.E.M.
Members of Swampbotics, the team name for Ware County High School’s TSA Robotics Program were thrilled to learn money from the $2,500 donation made by Okefenoke REMC could be used to help purchase competition kits, required electronics, as well as cover competition registration and travel expenses. Additionally, funds will be used to enhance the engineering curriculum taught by Holland Brown, Engineering and Technology Teacher and the TSA Advisor and Robotics Team Coordinator.
OREMC Foundation Makes Inaugural Grants
The Okefenoke REMC Foundation has awarded its first round of grants following its establishment earlier this year. A total of $61,050.79 was awarded to 19 organizations.
Lights of Love: 20 Years of the Lewis Light Show
OREMC consumer-members Charles and Wynell Lewis of Hortense, Georgia, had always “decked the halls” of their home with Christmas decorations and outdoor lights. But after their son, Chad, passed away on December 21, 2000, Christmas lights took on a whole new meaning. Now they share their lights of love and make spirits brighter at Christmas each year.
_f530x530.JPG)
Apprentice Lineman Joins OREMC’s Kingsland Crew
Coleman “Cole” Langshaw has joined Okefenoke REMC’s Kingsland crew as an apprentice lineman. A recipient of the OREMC Lineman Scholarship at Coastal Pines Technical College in Waycross, Langshaw completed his on-the-job component of the Electrical Lineworker Certificate Program in Kingsland before graduating in May. While he never expected to get a job in his hometown, he is grateful to be part of the OREMC family and have the opportunity to be of service to his community.
