NEWS RELEASE
Consumers Energy
2908 S. Center St.
Marshalltown, IA 50158
800-696-6552
Release Date: Immediate
Contact: Deb Borton
@ 641-752-1593 or Ann M. Foster
@ 515-727-8945
Co-op Youth Tour to Washington, D.C., Focuses on Cooperative Issues
Government Processes and Volunteerism
Marshalltown, Iowa July, 2002 –Tyler Armbrecht of Colo joined
more than 1,300 youth from around the country to participate in
the Rural Electric Youth Tour June 15-20 in Washington, D.C. Armbrecht
was sponsored by Consumers Energy in Marshalltown.
“Our electric cooperatives are integral parts of the communities
they serve,” says Ann Foster, director of communications and
Youth Tour director for the Iowa Association of Electric Cooperatives.
“They support this program because they realize our young people
are the key to the future of our cooperatives and our communities.”
While in Washington the Iowa Youth Tour delegation, made up of
38 students, met with congressional leaders, visited historic sites,
explored the Smithsonian museums and took a cruise down the Potomac
River. The theme of the 2002 Youth Tour was “Volunteers in
Action.” Highlights included meeting with their elected representatives
in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate to discuss the process
of government and issues of the day, and to help increase their
knowledge of cooperative electric utilities and American history.
In addition to taking in the sights and sounds of the nation’s
capital, all the state groups convened for Rural Electric Youth
Day to learn from public figures and other inspirational speakers.
This year’s Youth Day agenda included a survivor of the September
11 attack on the Pentagon, Lieutenant Colonel Brian Birdwell, who
described his harrowing experience and miraculous survival. Birdwell
touched on the importance of selfless service and accepting life’s
responsibilities. “Graduation is symbolic of promotion to the
greater responsibility as an adult and as a full citizen,”
he said.
Therese Lyons, director of public liaison for the President’s
USA Freedom Corps, delivered the White House’s call for increased
volunteerism. “Service is the debt of gratitude we owe for
the freedoms we have in this country,” she said.
Keynote speaker and ardent supporter of volunteerism Julie Laipply,
Miss Virginia USA 2002, encouraged the young audience to “remember
their ABCs in all that they do – Always Be Confident! Through
volunteerism you have the power to change someone else’s life,”
she said. Since 1964, the nation’s cooperative electric utilities
have sponsored approximately 35,000 high school juniors and seniors
for visits to their U.S. congressional delegations, energy and grassroots
government education sessions, and sightseeing in Washington. The
Rural Electric Youth Tour is a joint effort of local electric co-ops,
such as Consumers Energy, statewide co-op associations, including
the Iowa Association of Electric Cooperatives and the National Rural
Electric Cooperative Association, Arlington, VA.
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