The first bucket trucks appeared before the sun was even up. The logos painted across them didn’t match ours and the lineworkers inside called hundreds of miles away home, but that didn’t matter. Their mission was clear, they were here to help get the lights back on.

We are no strangers here at Southwest Tennessee Electric Membership Corporation to devastating storms and those unpredictable weather events leave thousands of our hardworking members without power. It never fails, though, neighboring electric cooperatives always answer the call. No matter if its floods, snows or even the ice storms like we experienced earlier this year — within hours, help from across Tennessee and even other states arrive in our service territory. Lineworkers begin rebuilding a system that’s not their own because that’s what co-ops do. We all work together and toward the same mission of bringing you the most reliable power we can. When the time comes, we, too, will answer the call and help our fellow co-ops in a time of need.

Long before the first pole was replaced, the sixth cooperative principle was already at work. Co-ops around the world and right here in West Tennessee operate according to the same set of core principles, and the sixth one is “Cooperation Among Cooperatives.” Meaning, co-ops serve their members most effectively and strengthen the cooperative movement by working together. Whether that’s done through local, national, regional or even international structures — what matters is that co-ops are helping co-ops serve their members in the best possible way.

STEMC is more than just your electric company — it’s a place where cooperation extends beyond power lines, connecting communities through a network of cooperatives working together to serve a greater purpose.