Georgia Magazine - July 2020 - 15

COURTESY SOUTHERN RIVERS ENERGY

SHORTTakes

At the Lamar County Middle School Junior
Solar Sprint in November, Josh Hendricks of
Southern Rivers Energy helps steer the cars in
a straight line using fishing line.

Book smarts: Flint Energies in Reynolds held
a book-donation drive in February to collect
books that would be distributed to Little
Free Libraries throughout its service territory.
The co-op gathered and sorted nearly 1,000
books and began delivering them to the
Little Free Libraries as well as to the local
Department of Family and Children Services
and to Houston County Family Connections.
(For more information about Little Free
Libraries, see the story in the December 2016
issue at bit.ly/lfl1216.)

Southern Rivers
Energy sponsors
Junior Solar Sprint

JENNIE LACEY / FLINT ENERGIES

Sew nice: The Common Threads Quilters
Guild of Newnan made quilts for homeless
veterans and cancer patients in March using
materials purchased with an Operation
Round Up grant from Palmetto-based
Coweta-Fayette Electric Membership Corp.
(EMC).

COURTESY COWETAFAYETTE EMC

MARIAN MCLEMORE / FLINT ENERGIES

DEANNA MATHIS

outhern Rivers Energy in Barnesville partners with Tucker-based
Green Power Electric Membership Corp. (EMC) each year to sponsor
the Junior Solar Sprint for local middle
school students. The competition is designed to help students learn hands-on
skills in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).
Last year's Junior Solar Sprint took
place Nov. 22 at Lamar County Middle
School in Barnesville and included 217
eighth graders from Michael Brock's
and Coach Kelsey Harris' science
classes. Four-student teams designed
and built solar-powered model cars,
then raced them on a 70-foot-long
track provided by Southern Rivers.
Speed, design and creativity determined winners in several categories.
The Junior Solar Sprint program is
supported by the U.S. Department of
Energy and endorsed by the National
Science Teachers Association.
"The Junior Solar Sprint is a fun,
hands-on project that teaches students
about solar power, engineering and
math," says Josh Hendricks, energy
services specialist at Southern Rivers.
"They actually see their lesson plan in
motion when their cars are put to the
test on the day of the race."
Southern Rivers provides all of the
car-building materials, and Hendricks
visits the classrooms to demonstrate
how to build the cars.

KYLIE JACOBS / MIDDLE GEORGIA EMC

Stocking food pantries: The Barnesvillebased Southern Rivers Energy Trust board
of directors awarded $22,000 in emergency
funding from its Operation Round Up grant
program to five area food pantries to help
their communities weather the COVID-19
pandemic. In Operation Round Up, members
opt to round their monthly bills to the next
dollar, and the difference goes into a fund for
local charitable causes.

Tablet winner: Samantha Gilbert, a member of Middle Georgia EMC in Vienna, was the
winner of the 2020 Georgia Magazine Student
Tablet Giveaway. She lives in Abbeville and
attends Wilcox County High School. The
annual survey offers a tablet computer to one
student at a Georgia high school or college
whose name is drawn from respondents.
Canceled tour: For the first time in more
than 50 years, the Washington Youth Tour was
canceled this year because of the pandemic.
The annual trip takes outstanding high school
students, who are sponsored by EMCs, to the
nation's capital in June for a week of learning
and leadership opportunities.
Shop online: GreyStone Power Corp. in
Douglasville now offers its members an
online store for energy-saving products and
services as well as instant rebates on some
products. Among the items in the GreyStone
Marketplace are smart thermostats, lightbulbs, smart-home products and watersaving devices such as low-flow showerheads.
Helping those in crisis: The Coastal Electric
Cooperative Foundation in Midway on
April 20 donated $1,500 each to three
organizations: the Food for the Soul soup
kitchen in Richmond Hill, Manna House in
Hinesville and the Georgia Homeless
Coalition. The donations were made
possible by Operation Round Up.
Virtual tutoring: With a $10,000 grant from
the Jefferson-based Jackson EMC Foundation, the Hall County Library System launched
Tutor.com, an online tutoring service for students of all ages. The service connects more
than 3,000 tutors with expertise in more than
60 subjects with students in real time from
noon to midnight daily.
www.georgiamagazine.org

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6/12/20 1:09 AM

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Georgia Magazine - July 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Georgia Magazine - July 2020