Virginia Secretary of Agriculture & Forestry Matt Lohr, a longtime friend to the Council, will be our keynote speaker on Thursday, Sept. 29, 2022 during our Co-op Month Breakfast at The Place in Glen Allen. The cost is $35 in advance or $40 at the door; RSVPs are requested by Sept. 21 to mary.howell@sscoop.com.
Virginia Institute on Cooperative Education winners
“VICE” was held March 25-26, 2022 at Graves Mountain Lodge, our 31st year at this scenic location. A total of 32 students, six of them state FFA officers, learned about co-ops and participated in the “Who’s Minding the Store?” business simulation. Congratulations to our scholarship winners Rachel Craun, Regan Jackson, Nathan Badgley, Aidan Hill and Katie Powell. Next year’s event is March 24-26, 2023.
Council’s 60th Annual Meeting set for March 3 in Staunton
The Council’s 60th Annual Meeting will be Thursday, March 3 at the Frontier Culture Museum. Beginning at 9:30 a.m., keynote speaker Whitney Perkins of the Virginia Farm Bureau will provide an update on the Virginia Foundation for Agriculture, Innovation and Sustainability, for which she leads business development. Members and guests are asked to RSVP by Feb. 28 to mary.howell@sscoop.com.
Alex White Earns Young Cooperator Award
Jack “Alex” White III, a government major currently attending Harvard University, received the Council’s Young Cooperator Award in a ceremony held Dec. 21, 2021 in Luray, Va. He was nominated by Shenandoah Valley Electric Cooperative (SVEC), to which his family belongs.
A graduate of a small rural high school and community college, this Page County native consistently strives to make a positive impact through public service. Alex was one of Virginia’s youngest delegates to a 2020 national political convention, served as Boys Nation Senator from Virginia and attended the Sorenson Institute High School Leaders Program, held at the University of Virginia. A self-proclaimed “big believer” in the cooperative model, he also participated in the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association’s 2018 Youth Tour, with his local co-op, SVEC, sponsoring him. The first person from his rural community to enroll in an Ivy League school as an undergraduate, Alex founded the Rural Leadership Initiative, a nonprofit that offers a stipend program to support rural undergraduate students at our nation’s elite schools.
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Graves and White Honored at Sept. 30 Co-op Month Breakfast
Jimmy Graves and Greg White were honored with Career Cooperative Leaderhsip Awards at the Co-op Month Breakfast, held Sept. 30 at The Place in Glen Allen. Keynote speaker Thomas Beckett of Carolina Common Enterprise shared his efforts to help launch and support new cooperatives in North Carolina.
2022 Virginia Institute on Cooperative Education applications accepted through Feb. 18, 2022
The Virginia Cooperative Council held its 2021 Annual Meeting via Zoom on Tuesday, March 2. Members re-elected Brad Brown, Dustin Francis and Brian Wolfe ot three-year terms. Rachel Bell Shupe of Colonial Farm Credit also was elected to serve. Agreeing to serve another year as officers, Brad Brown will continue as President, Adam Shiflett as Vice President and Jessica Harris as Secretary. In his remarks, Brad paid tribute to retiring board members Jim Belfield and Richard Johnstone, who have each provided decades of service to Virginia cooperatives and the Council. In June, the board voted to have Adam Ford of Rockingham Cooperative serve the unexpired term of Richard Johnstone.
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