(Jackson, Mn.)– Two linemen with a southwest Minnesota rural electric cooperative are headed to Haiti to help with a project to electrify a city there.
Matt “George” Madden and Jake Soderholm of Jackson-based Federated Rural Electric Association will travel to Caracol, Haiti as volunteers with the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association’s International Foundation December 4-15th.
The project in Caracol will bring electricity to the village for the first time ever. Volunteers will build distribution lines and train the project’s four novice linemen. The goal is to bring electricity to more 1,000 households and businesses in the city by April, 2013.
The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association International Foundation is a charity organization that sends 60 to 70 volunteers overseas each year to help construct new distribution lines and train local linemen and other utility staff and managers. Volunteers typically travel overseas for two to three weeks where they have the opportunity to work alongside local employees and experience the culture.
