by Blake Kleaving
Indiana Youth Leadership Council Delegate(Note to readers: This is an edited version of a speech Blake Kleaving presented after being selected to represent Indiana on the Youth Leadership Council during last June’s Youth Tour.)Following a 12-hour bus ride from Indianapolis to Washington D.C., I felt so much gratitude for having the opportunity to visit our nation’s capital and to learn about the nation’s electric cooperatives.
Having come from a family with a long rural tradition, I asked myself what life would be like without electricity on the farms today. There would be no power tools, no computerized farm analysis, no electric appliances, and — worst of all — no computer games, CDs, PowerPoint or flash-drives!
Where did all this start? It was President Franklin D. Roosevelt who provided federal assistance to get rural electricity after he was elected and began the New Deal in 1933. He made it possible for rural electricity to grow rapidly when he signed Executive Order No. 7037 establishing the Rural Electrification Administration in 1935. This agency provided aid to upstart rural electric systems.
After arriving home from Washington, I became aware of the true appreciation that my paternal grandparents have for the REA through their real-life stories of how REA affected their lives. The bond with my grandfather grew as I shared stories of my trip and the friends I made. But what surprised me were the recollections that he shared with me from his childhood.
He remembers growing up and watching his father raise the first network of electric poles in rural Perry County and seeing the farmhouse lit up with electricity for the very first time. As a result of President Roosevelt’s actions to promote the establishment of electric co-ops in rural America, everyday working citizens, like my grandfather, benefited from what the REA had to offer. A banner on the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association Web site above FDR’s photo said it best, “Working together did it. All the power you want at lowest cost! At last a dream come true.”
My maternal grandfather served our community and state by spending several years as a director for his cooperative and a director of the Indiana Statewide Association of RECs. My father now serves as a director of both the cooperative, Southern Indiana Power, and Indiana Statewide, giving me a greater interest in the history of electric cooperatives.
The progress throughout the years can be traced throughout my family’s service. By the time grandpa became a director in the 1960s, over 90 percent of rural America could buy electricity. Today approximately 99 percent of rural Americans are served by 900 co-ops employing over 60,000 men and women.
Now that we have looked at where we have been, we must act on where we are going — with emphasis on being a green society.
While in D.C., I had the opportunity to meet Indiana Congressman Mike Pence and listen to his views on what we need to do as a state and a nation to continue the progress of rural electric co-ops. His views agree with the NRECA on keeping the prices low for farmers and rural homeowners while protecting the environment and developing renewable energy. Youth Tour showed me that it will be my generation playing a significant role in trying to keep our energy affordable and our environment safe. It is important now more than ever to stand up and defend our values and commitments.
I will never forget this wonderful trip, the friends I made, and the extraordinary experiences I had along with learning so much about our history. Now, I realize the importance of the goals of the NRECA Campaign for “Our Energy, Our Future” and the Youth Tour.
Blake Kleaving is currently a senior at Perry Central High School and will continue his YLC experience at the national electric cooperative annual meeting in Atlanta this month. His father, Randy Kleaving, is a director of Tell City-based Southern Indiana Power.
If you are currently a high school junior interested in the Youth Tour to Washington, D.C., this June, — or know one who might be, contact your local electric co-op right away. Application deadlines are this month. To learn more about keeping electricity affordable and the environment safe, visit www.ourenergy.coop.