2015

About a year and a half ago, Michigan’s electric cooperatives sent 10 linemen to Buena Vista, Guatemala. They worked side-by-side with local residents to bring electricity to the remote, mountainous village. [...]

People can’t stop talking about the Partners For Power project. It’s a story with heart. A story about people coming together for a cause bigger than themselves. It’s a story worth [...]

There was a general spirit of gratitude as our linemen reunited with their families at the Grand Rapids airport this evening — gratitude for a job well done, and gratitude for [...]

Festivities for the inauguration celebration kicked off early yesterday morning with a band playing live music. The entire village came together to celebrate the arrival of electricity in their community, and [...]

The lights are on in Buena Vista, but our team’s work didn’t end there. Yesterday the linemen distributed over 450 pounds of donated goods to the villagers, including school supplies, backpacks, [...]

Yesterday was the day that we’ve all been working towards — the lights came on in Buena Vista! One of the locals, Ofelia De Leon, invited several of us to be [...]

Sometimes when you are in a moment, you know it’s one that you will remember for the rest of your life. That happened to me today, and I was lucky enough [...]

Getting from place to place in Guatemala is a trip in itself. In the city, we saw lots of “chicken buses.” They’re actually old American school buses, painted with colorful murals [...]

Last night for dinner we had “sweaty” chicken. Our cook, Urbano, told us they call it that because you have to chase the chicken around to catch it, and by the [...]

We’re continuing to make good progress and are still slightly ahead of schedule. We wouldn’t be nearly as far along as we are now without the unwavering support of the locals. [...]

The way our team has clicked is unbelievable. Honestly, it was like a brotherhood right off the bat. Out here there are plenty of stressful conditions, and 10 different ways to [...]

We’re up so high on this mountain that we’re literally working with our heads in the clouds. It’s like trying to work in a really dense fog where you can only [...]

After two full-days of work, we are slightly ahead of schedule. Almost all of the primary poles are now completely framed. But it hasn’t been easy- we had a pretty big [...]

Pulling up to the village of Buena Vista was a spectacular moment that I will never forget. As soon as the schoolyard came into view, we realized that all of the [...]

We got confirmation that the team arrived safely in Buena Vista at 7:30 p.m. last night. Upon their arrival they had dinner and then set-up their home-sweet-home for the next couple [...]

The flight yesterday went well and we were all thankful to land safely in Guatemala City. My first impression of Guatemala City was that it’s a very busy, active place with [...]

All bags were packed and ready to go by 4:15 a.m. this morning. And boy, were there a lot of them! In addition to a personal suitcase, each lineman is traveling [...]