They may not pay electric bills or vote in trustee elections, but even the youngest members are important to electric cooperatives.
The Seven Cooperative Principles — especially those of Education, Training, and Information and Concern for Community — inspire many co-ops to reach out to children to spread the word about both electrical safety and the cooperative way.
Jennifer Davenport, Darke Rural Electric’s communications director, says she loves hearing the giggles when she reads to groups of young students at local schools. Among her favorites is the Cat & Duck series.
Greenville-based Darke Rural Electric Cooperative, for example, has an outreach program for first- through third-graders in local schools. “Safety around electricity is so important,” says Jen Davenport, director of communications and member relations at Darke Electric. “How do we reach everyone with that message? One way is to start early, with the kids, because they’ll always remember those lessons.”
Kids, as it turns out, also make great co-op ambassadors. “Kids are sponges, and they take information home to their parents,” Davenport says. “Then as they grow up, they already know we’re the safety experts and they can trust us, because we’ve been there for them and they’ve learned from us since they were kids.”
Cat and Duck
One tool Davenport employs is a book written specifically for co-op kids. Cat & Duck and the Electric Cooperative, starring two animal characters and a handy time machine, was the brainchild and creative handiwork of Patrick Wood, manager of communications at Co-Mo Connect, a division of Co-Mo Electric Cooperative in Tipton, Missouri.
Wood, a father of three, wrote and illustrated that book in the fall of 2024 to take his co-op’s message to local children. He began reading it to preschoolers and early elementary students in Co-Mo’s territory, and before long (in the spirit of the co-op principle of Cooperation Among Cooperatives), Cat and Duck had prowled and waddled into schools around the country.
“Educators in our region saw it and wanted it,” Wood says. “By that February, about 12 co-ops had reached out to use the book.” Wood designed a version without Co-Mo branding and made it available on Amazon, and he also provided online materials so other co-ops could customize the pages.
He has since followed up with three more books: a Cat and Duck sequel, Cat & Duck Electric Safety, and two featuring Flat Stanley-style lineworkers, Lineman Larry and Kilowatt Katie. At last count, co-ops in 33 states were using the books.
Davenport says she gets an enthusiastic reception when she reads Cat and Duck as part of Darke Electric’s elementary school program. “I love reading them the stories, fielding their questions — they ask some great ones — and hearing them giggle,” she says. “They also get a copy of the book and a packet of coloring pages and activities. They take it all home, so we’re reaching the whole family.”
Safety show-and-tell
St. Marys-based Midwest Electric reaches young people at various schools, homeschool groups, safety camps, and Scout and 4-H organizations within its co-op service territory with a traveling tabletop safety demonstration.
Safety and facilities coordinator Jim Williams uses a model that includes a house, a car, and power lines to help kids understand what to do (and what not to do) around electric equipment.
“We show them how the wires are up in the air and we have a guy up on the roof with an antenna and a girl with a kite,” Williams says. The wires are electrified — enough to show there’s electricity but not enough to really hurt someone — so when the tiny people make mistakes, like hitting the wires with the antenna or the kite, the danger is clear.
“Once you throw that first arc, the kids get excited because of the buzzing and light,” he says. Williams engages students, asking questions throughout the demonstration. “I’ll ask what to do if you’re flying a kite and are coming close to lines, and I’ll get all sorts of answers. Then I remind them that the best thing to do is to let it go, like the song from Frozen.
“We’re introducing these ideas at a young age, in a way they can understand,” he says, noting that the co-op’s safety message reached more than 2,500 children last year. “They share what they learn with their parents and siblings. It’s a good age to give them lifelong reminders about safety.”
Beyond the schools
For the past four years, New London-based Firelands Electric Cooperative has offered Lunch with a Lineman, a contest for elementary-age kids to come to the co-op, meet lineworkers, and get hands-on equipment demonstrations.
“To enter this year, kids had to complete a home safety checklist,” says Tracy Gibb, communications and member relations specialist at Firelands. Winners are drawn and a small group — up to three kids and their chaperones — go through stations to try on safety gear, see safety and pole-climbing demonstrations, and check out bucket and digger trucks. Then, of course, they have lunch with the lineworkers, and they get co-op goody bags.
“They often start out shy, but once they try on the gloves and the sleeves, and see the demonstrations, they start asking a lot of questions,” Gibb says. “They’re fascinated with how tall things are and love to see what the linemen do.”
Firelands also does a touch-a-truck event at a New London preschool each year, participates in safety towns, and leads projects at a local 4-H camp. All together, these efforts bring the message of co-ops and safety to an important audience, Gibb says.
“We’re teaching them something that could prevent an accident later,” she says. “And eventually, these will be our members. They’ll remember the co-op and how it’s involved and supportive of the community.”
Get to know Cat & Duck
To learn more about Cat & Duck, get the Cat & Duck ZAP Slap card game, and access Patrick Wood’s books and other fun and educational materials, visit www.catandduck.org.
