Community Electric Cooperative recently had a unique holiday food drive that teamed up their associates and Elevate Church to raise donations of non-perishable items for deserving families from the community. In the first of what they hope will be many partnership events, CEC’s associates were eager to provide families with food and groceries as part of their cooperative commitment to the community.

Through this partnership, associates at CEC broke into six teams to compete to collect the most non-perishable items. CEC has a long history of community partnerships and hopes to incorporate more opportunities in the coming year.

“CEC is committed to supporting the community, and hunger doesn’t take a break during the holidays. As we enter a season where ‘community’ has greater meaning, this is such a beautiful way to honor our neighbors — through teamwork and generosity,” said Jessica Parr, manager of communications for Community Electric Cooperative.

Teams were notified on Nov. 25 and had until 12:30 p.m. on Dec. 19 to complete colleting items for this drive. A total of 39 CEC associates and 9 board members participated. The team to collect the most non-perishable food items presented the grand total of 2,075 collected items to Pastor Thomas-Steele Carr with Elevate Church.

“As we look to a motivating New Year, I cannot think of a better way to close out 2019 than to partner with the community that means so much to us at CEC,” said Steve Harmon, chief executive officer and president of Community Electric Cooperative. “We are grateful for our associates’ support in helping to fight hunger this holiday season and throughout the coming year.”

“We are honored to participate in such an offering and greatly look forward to getting the food collected into the hands of people who need it.” said Pastor Thomas-Steele Carr of Elevate Church.

Community Electric Cooperative, headquartered in Windsor, is a not-for-profit member-owned energy provider that serves over 11,000 homes, farms and businesses in the counties of Isle of Wight, Southampton, Surry and Sussex and the city of Suffolk. For more information, go to www.comelec.coop.