Members Helping Members

CEO Dave MarkhamAnnual Meeting Rescheduled
In response to COVID-19, the Central Electric Cooperative Board of Directors in late March postponed April’s annual meeting. At this writing, Gov. Kate Brown’s “Stay safe, stay home” order is still in full effect. Not wanting to push out the meeting too late in the year, the board rescheduled it for Friday, June 12, at 1:30 p.m.

While many states, including Oregon, will have slowly begun to reopen by early June, the board—out of concern for the safety of CEC’s employees and members—
decided to conduct the annual meeting by teleconference. To participate in the annual meeting by telephone, I encourage you to visit our website, www.cec.com, to fill out a registration form. You may also call our office at 541-548-2144 to register. During the week before the annual meeting, CEC will email the toll-free call-in number and access code to you.

Two candidates are running to serve as director for District 5, Terrebonne. I encourage members who live in that district to return their ballots by mail in the envelopes provided or drop them off at CEC’s Redmond headquarters. District 5 ballots must be received no later than noon on Friday, June 12.

Project Helping Hand
It has been more than two months since Gov. Brown issued her order, and we are getting a clearer picture of the devastating financial impacts incurred by the economic shutdown. Oregon’s Employment Department reported more than 362,200 initial claims for unemployment insurance for the end of April. Our region has been hard hit, with nearly 16,000 filing claims. These numbers continue to rise.

CEC sees firsthand the financial impacts COVID-19 has on its members. One way to gauge that is the number of members assisted through the co-op’s Project Helping
Hand program, which provides bill payment assistance to those who demonstrate need. The number of members assisted in April jumped five times this year’s monthly average.

To learn more about how PHH has provided much-needed assistance to members who have endured financial difficulties due to COVID-19 and other hardships, turn to
pages 28-29 of this issue. While we remain fully dedicated to helping our members during this disruptive and unpredictable health crisis, the increase in applications has put a strain on Project Helping Hand’s coffers. We need your help to bolster its funds so we can continue to carry out the program’s mission.

I strongly urge you to consider joining members who contribute. Rounding up your bill to the nearest dollar, adding a fixed amount to your monthly bill or making a one-time donation will help and encourage members in need.

To sign up, go to www.cec.coop under the community tab and enroll, or call our customer service representatives at 541-548-2144. All contributions are tax-deductible.
We are in this together. Members helping members is the co-op way.