Helping Hand: Four local linemen head south to support hurricane relief efforts
HANCOCK COUNTY, Ind. (DAILY REPORTER) – Four linemen from NineStar Connect traveled to Georgia Thursday night to assist in Hurricane Helene recovery efforts.
Brenden Box, Brandon French, Bryan Giddings and Justin Messer were among 40 lineworkers throughout the state who headed south to help restore power after the powerful storm, which made landfall overnight Thursday and headed inland, causing widespread property damage throughout the southeastern United States.
The Hoosier help team represents 11 of Indiana’s electric cooperatives: Clark County REMC (Sellersburg), Decatur County REMC (Greensburg), Hendricks Power Cooperative (Danville), Henry County REMC (New Castle), Jay County REMC (Portland), JCREMC (Franklin), NineStar Connect (Greenfield), Northeastern REMC (Columbia City), Orange County REMC (Orleans), RushShelby Energy (Manilla), South Central Indiana REMC (Martinsville), and Tipmont (Linden).
“Every cooperative in the Indiana electric cooperative family is an integral part of a state and national network of hundreds of fellow cooperatives,” said John Cassady, CEO for Indiana Electric Cooperatives. “It is incumbent upon us to work together and help one another in times of disaster, to make sure our power delivery systems are repaired as quickly, safely and cost-effectively as possible.”
Cobb EMC, based in Marietta, Ga., provides electric service to nearly 200,000 residential and commercial consumers in five Georgia counties.
Jon Elkins, vice president of safety, training and compliance at Indiana Electric Cooperatives, said the Hoosier lineman providing help after this week’s hurricane take tremendous pride in representing their home cooperative and the state of Indiana.
“They represent us well with how hard, professionally and safely they work,” he said.