With 99% of power restored, community says thank you to lineman
CNN/Stylemagazine.com Newswire | 9/25/2020, 2:48 p.m.
By Ashlyn Irons
SUMMERDALE, AL (WALA) -- Power restoration efforts are wrapping up for Baldwin EMC and their crews who came to lend a hand from all over the country.
After lots of hard work, the community is banding together to let them know they are grateful.
Our Baldwin County Reporter Ashlyn Irons has more on how you too can say thank you.
After the storm, they were some of the first boots on the ground.
Without them, we'd still be in the dark.
The people of Baldwin County are coming together now to say 'thank you.'
OWA teamed up with Baldwin EMC to create a massive base camp for crews.
Now as power is 99% restored, OWA giving you a chance to thank them.
"With the base camp closed to the public our best idea was to get them to deliver those thank you wishes to downtown OWA so we could help share that with Baldwin EMC and all the crews that are here," said OWA Spokesperson Kristin Hellmich.
Cards, posters, Facebook posts, letters are all pouring in from across the Gulf Coast to thank not only our local linemen, but the roughly 1,400 who put their lives on hold to help.
"They have left their wives. They have left their children. They have left their community to come here and help us. Its just as hard on the family members as it is the linemen," said Mark Ingram, Baldwin EMC Vice President of Corporate Services and Public Relations.
While it may seem like a small gesture, the 'thank you wall' taking shape outside of the base camp's meal tent makes all the hard work worth it.
"It does take time. It takes a long time in the restoration process, but we're thrilled where we are, we do know that we still have some members without power, and we're working just as hard as we did on the first day to get them restored this weekend hopefully," said Ingram.
You can off your thank you cards and posters between now and Sunday from noon- 8 pm at Lucy's Retired Surfer Bar or Groovy Goat in Downtown OWA.