The electric cooperative pioneers who joined forces to build our local electric cooperative, which serves our community, are the reason we can all enjoy affordable, reliable and safe energy to turn on lights, watch TV or charge your cellphone.

This Thanksgiving, keep a good thought for those pioneers who helped bring electricity to the rural communities and farms that the for-profit electricity companies refused to serve. Perhaps your grandparents or your neighbors’ relatives were involved in collecting membership fees or signatures as they got things started. Maybe those stories have been passed down to you from your grandparents and parents.

Those people sacrificed so their families could enjoy lighting, heat and the convenience of appliances like electric irons—just like the folks who lived in the cities. They laid the foundation for the at-your-fingertips electric, phone and Internet service that you enjoy today.

When you take your turkey out of your electric oven this season, or when you switch on your electric furnace or heat pump for the first time this fall, remember those who lived without the convenience of electricity—and that they wanted it so badly they literally took matters into their own hands.