Celebrating 80 Years: emPOWER Summit 2025
Rio Grande's 80th Annual Meeting, the emPOWER Summit 2025, is right around the corner. Many employees are feverishly working on the details of the meeting to make your experience celebrating 80 years of cooperation a great one. 80 years is no small accomplishment!
As members of the Cooperative, we are about as varied a group as you’ll find. Co-op members come from all walks of life and different parts of the 2 states. We are made up of young families and empty nesters, retirees, and winter Texans.
We have both large and small farms and ranches, oil wells, gas plants, urban housing developments, hotels, hospitals, and school districts. We serve pipeline pumping stations, state parks, and national parks. We even provide power to wind farms.
That’s right! When the wind isn’t blowing, wind turbines have equipment that consumes energy.
It is amazing that for 80 years, we have been able to take the diverse needs of Rio Grande’s membership and achieve a focus that brings maximum value to everyone. Thus, the need to have access to meetings virtually.
We get it - most members’ Saturdays are packed full of youth sports, weekend projects, or simply the need to sit back and relax from a hectic work week. So we will continue to bring the meeting to you! Plus, the cost savings are a huge consideration for both members and the Co-op. Neither want the additional expenses associated with traveling these days.
We are always looking for ways to save money -- your money -- and experience has taught us that virtual meetings cost over 50% less than an in-person meeting. Attendance at virtual meetings has been high and comparable to the most highly attended in-person meetings of the past.
It just makes good business sense to hold these meetings virtually, especially at a time when we are working so fervently to hold down costs.
Rio Grande can only be strong if you are involved. Please take time to be engaged, ask questions, and serve when asked. There is a question submission form that can be found using the QR code below.
You can fill this out online and return it with the click of a button. We will answer as many questions during the Annual Meeting as time permits, and all the others will be answered in an upcoming edition of this magazine.
As a reminder, though, you don’t have to wait for an annual meeting to ask questions.
Additional meeting details, including registration information, can be found on page 20 of this month’s issue. We hope you’ll join us virtually and participate in the emPOWER Summit.
You’ll end the morning better informed about your Co-op, and hopefully, with a prize or 2!