Friday, March 15, 2013
Wauchula, Fla. — For the third year in a row, Peace River Electric Cooperative (PRECO) registered more than 800 individuals at its Annual Membership Meeting. On Saturday, March 9, the cooperative received 850 members, plus their families, at the 73rd annual event in Wauchula, FL. In less than 10 years, member attendance has swelled from around 600 to well over 800.
Free hotdogs, ice cream, snow cones and soft drinks were available throughout the event. Children’s activities including a climbing wall, bounce house, inflatable slide, and horse rides maintained smiles on young faces throughout the day.
“This event is actually our annual business meeting, but we prefer to make it feel more like a birthday party for the cooperative,” said meeting coordinator Jeff Cornelius. “We can’t officially conduct business without a quorum, so by going all-out we are assured of a well attended meeting. And, it’s our way of saying thank you to our members.”
Young and old alike were enthralled by Gatorland gator expert Tim Williams, through his gator, reptile and creature show. Gatorland, a 110-acre park in Orlando, contains thousands of gators and crocs and is open year round. Williams has appeared on Jack Hannah’s Animal Adventures, the Today Show, Good Morning America, and many other nationally syndicated television shows.
PRECO members heard directors Maurice Henderson and Bruce Vickers, plus Randy Shaw, CEO, discuss important co-op matters and describe its sound financial condition. A brief question-and-answer session was open to all members before the business meeting concluded.
Before members went back to their homes, a drawing was held to award a large selection of door prizes, including the grand prize of a surplus 2005 Ford Ranger 4×4 pickup from PRECO’s well maintained fleet.
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Peace River Electric Cooperative (PRECO), a Touchstone Energy® distribution electric cooperative headquartered in Wauchula, Florida, provides electric service and energy solutions to nearly 35,000 member/consumers in 10 Florida counties in central Florida: Brevard, DeSoto, Hardee, Highlands, Hillsborough, Indian River, Manatee, Osceola, Polk and Sarasota Counties. Through almost 4,000 miles of power lines, the electric cooperative has been in business since 1940 as a member-owned, not-for-profit organization.