Magnolia Electric Power

CONGRATULATIONS TO McCOMB, MS COCA-COLA! Magnolia Electric Power was excited to be a part of Coca-Cola’s Groundbreaking Ceremony held earlier today at their soon-to-be-new-location on Gateway Road, McComb. Several dignitaries spoke at the ceremony before the crowd toasted with bottles of cokes to the new endeavor. Then, several photos were made of “the groundbreaking” including one with MEP’s General Manager Darrell Smith (fourth from left). MEP will be McComb Coca-Cola’s electric provider at the new location.

MERRY CHRISTMAS/HOLIDAY OPERATING HOURS: Merry Christmas from our very own Santa Terry “TJ” Jackson as he sports a Santa hat and white beard! Terry is one of our servicemen and a Journeyman Lineman. He has been employed at MEP for 26 years. The remaining photos in this post showcase how our employees enjoy decorating their spaces (and sometimes dressing up) for Christmas. Please enjoy the different areas of the office as we hope to spread a little Christmas cheer to you this season. And should you need to come to the main office for business reasons, here are our Hours of Operation during the holidays: The MEP business office will closed Friday, December 22, at 11 a.m. and remain closed Monday, December 25, and Tuesday, December 26, for our employees to spend time with their family members during the holidays. The business office will also be closed Monday, January 1, for the New Year’s holiday. A MEP Dispatcher will be on duty and should you have a power outage, please know our linemen are on call. If you need to pay a bill, there are a variety of ways: • Pay through our SmartHub app • At one of our convenient kiosks located in Tylertown, Liberty or at the office • Pay using the bar code found on the back of the bill at Dollar General, Family Dollar, CVS or Walgreens. (The bar code is also found on the SmartHub app.) • Use our pay-by-phone system by calling 1-877-779-7740. As we conclude this Christmas message to our members let us say: May your homes be filled with the glow of love, the sparkle of togetherness, and the twinkle of energy-efficient celebrations! Merry Christmas to our amazing members! 🎁 #PoweringGratitude #MerryAndBright #MerryChristmas

We know it is the MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR and we want our members to BE SMART WITH YOUR Christmas Decorations (A Christmas Safety message for outdoor decorations): Listen to our Elves and Gnomes as they share the “Do's and Don'ts” of lighting and decorating during the Holidays! We will give you a hint, the gnomes never do things right.   🎄 Santa's Safety Elves always double-check their holiday lighting. Gnomes never make a safety check, so their displays are a bitter disappointment. Before decking the halls, inspect your lights for any damaged wires or bulbs. When in doubt, get a professional to come out! 🛠️ It never hurts to have an electrician inspect your installation. 👀 #InspectProtect #LightItRight #HappyHolidays

We know it is the MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR and we want our members to BE SMART WITH YOUR Christmas Decorations (A Christmas Safety message for indoor decorations): Listen to our Elves and Gnomes as they share the “Do's and Don'ts” of lighting and decorating during the Holidays! We will give you a hint, the gnomes never do things right.   🎄 We all love Christmas lights and decorations, but pushing those outlets to their limits is like playing with fire. 🔥 Santa's elves are talented engineers and have a mind for electrical safety, but careless gnomes always overload outlets. The Safety Elves recommend using power strips with circuit breakers and to spread your devices among several outlets. ⚡🔌 #SafetyFirst #ElectricalSafety #HappyHolidays

TOY DONTAION TO CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL: To spread our donations to further reaches, this year Magnolia Electric Power collected toys for the Children’s Hospital of Mississippi. MEP employees and our members donated almost $500 worth of toys to the only children’s hospital in the state. In our first photo, several MEP employees stand with the toys that were donated. In the second photo, Manager of Member Services and Communications Lucy Shell (from left), Manager of Human Resources Heather Atwood, who leads the toy program, stand with Amber Magee, guest coordinator for the Children’s Hospital of Mississippi and the boxed-up toys. Shell and Atwood delivered the toys to the hospital on Monday. The third photo is the front of the children’s hospital. Because the hospital had some very specific guidelines on what could be donated, MEP does have a small collection of donated toys which will be given to the Marine Corps Toys for Tots program a little later on. With these donations, MEP is exercising Cooperative Principle Number Seven, Concern for Community.

AND THE YOUTH LEADERSHIP WINNERS ARE: Congratulations! Following Cooperative University and the interview process, our panel of judges selected the following students to attend the Leadership Seminar in Jackson and the trip to Washington. The five students selected are: Mya Edwards of Brookhaven High School, Ann Elise Gatlin of Parklane Academy; Emme Barrett of Brookhaven Academy; Trent Owens of Brookhaven High School and Ariyanna Simmons of North Pike High School. These five winners will attend a Leadership Training Seminar in Jackson, MS, February 21-23, 2024, and the trip to Washington, D.C., on June 15-21, 2024. All expenses are paid for both trips through Magnolia Electric Power. As always, we would like to express our appreciation to all the area schools and the students for their participation. It is our honor to recognize each student who participated for their achievements and contributions to their communities. It is Magnolia Electric Power’s goal to continue this program in the future with the help of our schools. Together, we can recognize and help shape the future leaders of our communities. (Cooperative University and Youth Leadership Interviews were held on October 26-27, 2023. We had 22 students participating. These are the winners.)

OUR MISSISSIPPI STATE LEGISLATORS: I would like to give a special shout-out to the Mississippi state legislators who attended our Youth Leadership's Cooperative University last Thursday. THANK YOU to Senators (from left) Jason Barrett and Kelvin Butler; and Representatives Angela Cockerham, Sam Mims, Vince Mangold, Daryl Porter and Becky Currie. These ladies and gentlemen have always been a hit with our students at our Cooperative University! (You should hear some of the awesome questions the students ask the legislators, too!) The parents in attendance get a chance a visit with the legislators, too, once we break for lunch! We certainly appreciate the legislators taking the time out of their busy schedules to come and meet with the students (and parents)! The legislators are pictured with all of the 2023 Youth Leadership nominees and sitting on the front row is MEP's 2022 Youth Leadership winners (from left): Maggie Sheppard, Isabella Clark and Brice Peeples. #ECM Youth Leadership Program

MEP’s COOPERATIVE UNIVERSITY: Before we announce the winners of our 2023 Youth Leadership competition, we want to share some of the smiles we saw at Cooperative University held last Thursday, October 26, at the office. These photos posted are just a sampling of the 600 plus photos taken during the event! We were fortunate to have 22 students vying for the title of MEP Youth Leadership winner as we strive to give a learning environment to all the students, yet with a bit of fun included. We were so happy to see everyone (the students, our past winners, school officials, parents, and grandparents) in attendance as they learned about electric cooperatives, leadership, meeting their state legislators, and getting the opportunity to see things they would not normally see - such as the MEP Dispatch Control room and a MEP service truck. Please enjoy our photos and remember if you have an upcoming junior in high school and you live on our powerlines, make sure to contact your school counselor at the beginning of their 11th grade (you can even start talking to the counselor during your child's 10th grade!) and let them know you are interested in your child participating in this Magnolia Electric Power Youth Leadership program! #ECM Youth Leadership Program

AND THE WINNERS ARE: Thank you to everyone who cast a vote, whether on line or in person at the office! The winners of our 2023 Breast Cancer Awareness Pumpkin Decorating Contest are (from left) Morgan Hill, first place; Johanna White, second place; and Mary Lee Smith, third place. Each winner is standing behind their awarding winning pumpkin. We thank all of our participants for their support as MEP strives to bring breast cancer awareness to all.

HONORED TO HOST A NISC WORKSHOP AND HERE ARE THEIR FACES: Magnolia Electric Power was happy to host electric cooperative employees from across the United States at the workshop held this week! The workshop brought new faces into our communities to stay and eat while learning software at the MEP headquarters. The NISC (National Information Solutions Cooperative) Plant Accounting Workshop wrapped up yesterday, but not before the attendees learned about work orders, fleet management, and plant accounting to enable more accurate reporting at their cooperative. The workshop was led by Pam Jackson and Paul Schmidt of NISC, which is a cooperative software company used by numerous electric cooperatives. We were excited to host our visitors here at the office and as they stayed in both McComb and Brookhaven!