Manager's Report

    We also immediately contacted our answering service and told them to have you disregard the collection message. We have made some changes to prevent the possibility of this type of mistake happening in the future. Once again we are very sorry for upsetting your weekend and hope you will forgive us for the mistake.

      I’ve always told my kids it’s the little things that count in life; being kind to your neighbors, returning a lost wallet, picking up after yourself while enjoying the great outdoors. While each action might not amount to much on its own, if everyone does a little we see a big impact in our communities. That’s why I’m a proud supporter of Butler Rural Electric’s Operation Round Up® program. Six bucks isn’t a lot of money—it’s about what you would pay for a meal at a fast food restaurant. But $6 equals the average amount folks who support our Operation Round Up program give every year, all through spare change. Members—people like you who receive electricity from the co-op—have their bills automatically rounded up to the next whole dollar amount.

    Let’s say your bill is $82.90. It would be rounded up to $83, with a dime going to Operation Round Up. The extra pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters then flow into a fund managed by a committee of Butler REC employees. That fund assists worthy local organizations as well as fellow members who’ve fallen on hard times. Sure, donating $6 over the course of a year may seem like a little thing. But if you put all of that money together—well, things start to get exciting. Roughly 3,695 members of Butler REC are chipping in to support Operation Round Up, and that number grows every month.

    Good thing, too, because the need has never been greater. Last year we distributed $16,357.62 to members with personal disasters such as losing their home to a fire, worthwhile groups like Salvation Army Toy-a-thon, YMCA Strong Kids Program, National Fire Safety, Butler Homeless Initiative, Children’s Miracle Network, Trinity Heights Respite Care, American Cancer Society, Soldiers in Afghanistan, Kansas Food Bank, Hearts of America, local 4-H organizations, fire departments and schools, Fishing Has No Boundaries, Community Helping Our Kids, Big Brothers Big Sisters and March of Dimes.

    Since we launched Operation Round Up in 2003 we’ve given community groups and folks in need more than $173,248.09. That’s something we should all be proud of—your assistance is changing lives in our communities.As I said, it’s the little things that count in life. About 250 local electric co-ops nationwide currently run Operation Round Up programs. All told, consumers at these co-ops have raised more than $100 million since the idea was started by South Carolina’s Palmetto Electric Cooperative in 1989. If you’re one of the members who makes Operation Round Up possible, thank you. If you haven’t heard about the program before and would like to participate, visit our website at www.butler.coop or call us at 800-464-0060. Together, we can use a little pocket change to change our communities.

    In closing, I hope you are having a great summer. It seems to go so fast with all of the activities and vacations. My wife and I just spent a week of our vacation keeping our 2 and 4 year old grandsons so our daughter and her husband could have a well deserved vacation together. They live in Albuquerque, New Mexico so we don’t get to see them as often as we would like to. We had a great time, but grandma and grandpa are worn out. So I am back to work to rest up. Ha!

Until Next month.