Alabama Power linemen don’t only restore power.
In times of need, they put their heavy lifting skills to good use for charitable works. That was the case when several line crew personnel from the Valley/Langdale Crew Headquarters recently spent their off-time delivering 750 pounds of food to the Christian Service Center Food Bank.
The crews carried more than 1,000 cans of food and dried goods – gifts from Alabama Power employees and customers of the Valley/Langdale business offices – to the food bank in Valley.
Food bank Director Cheryl Myers was thrilled to see the Alabama Power line crewmen walk through the doors with their large boxes. She said the gifts came just in time to feed Chambers County families at the holidays.
“To see all those men here helping us, bringing in all that food was wonderful,” said Myers, who has worked at the Christian Service Center for 28 years. “A lot of that food went to families at Thanksgiving and will help more people at Christmas.”
She said the company’s food donation helped 375 adults and 225 children in November, including many elderly in Valley and Lanett.
“We were able to feed about 60 more families in November, more than in most months,” Myers said. “We provided 19,330 pounds of food in November.”
Alabama Power linemen Chris Denney, Joseph Eldred, Clayton Huckaby, Michael Huckaby and Daniel Sides, with utility assistant Anthony Cipriano, delivered the food after they’d completed their workday.
“They not only brought in the food, they had separated much of it,” Myers said. “Then the men put it in the bins. They saved me a lot of work. It was all good.”
She said that volunteers and workers box the food, separate it and place it in bins, moving the food five times from donation to the point it’s donated to families. Through their volunteerism, the Alabama Power linemen saved Myers some leg work.
Alabama Power’s Valley Customer Service representatives Joni Hubbard, Julie Jennings and Lisa Roberts served as co-chairs for the food bank project through the Southeast Chapter of the Alabama Power Service Organization (APSO).
While working with customers in the Alabama Power’s drive-through lines, CSRs handed out slips suggesting holiday food donations.
“Our customers dropped by cans of food as they visited our business office,” said longtime Southeast APSO member Roberts. “There was a big assortment of food, from canned vegetables to boxed meals, to Hamburger Helper, dried beans and rice. By the end, we had so much food, none of us here could lift the box.”
While visiting her parents in Florida, Alabama Power general clerk Mary Henderson took advantage of that state’s zero sales tax to buy canned goods for donation to the food drive.
“We try to help the Christian Service Center twice a year, with a clothing drive or food drive,” Roberts said. “It’s an organization we know that helps many families in our area.”
Supported by about 40 churches, as well as businesses and individuals, Myers said the Christian Service Center is a community ministry.
“it’s the most unique ministry I’ve ever been affiliated with,” she said. “I am very grateful for the company’s donation and the assistance of the Southeast APSO volunteers.”
(Courtesy of Alabama NewsCenter)
