A product of Cass County – Marshal Albright is a homegrown product of Cass County, hailing from Lynchburg, about 30 miles southwest of Fargo. He started his career with his “hometown” electric co-op in 1986, when he was hired as a load management technician. In the late 1980s, electric heat was the go-to system, and Marshal programmed ripple controls (an inspection and maintenance program for load control receivers) and installed new meters for residential off-peak heating systems.
The electric cooperative workforce is in a state of transition. Many longtime co-op employees have reached or are nearing retirement. Over the next five years, it is estimated more than 15,000 people will be hired at more than 900 electric cooperatives in 47 states.
In North Dakota alone, nearly 2,500 full-time electric cooperative jobs exist. And, there are more than 30 types of career opportunities at electric cooperatives. As new employees come in the door, a well of knowledge and experience exits.
A U.S. Marine Corps veteran with a worldly palate, Jayson Parsons put a pinch of this and a pinch of that into a seasoning jar for an outdoor survival trip, and discovered the recipe for a new business.
Originally from Arizona, Parsons and his family had moved to Hebron, where he and one of his sons explored the outdoors in survivor style.
“Not many people get mad at the guy making coffee,” Travis Helfrich jokes.
It’s hard to imagine anyone being mad at a guy like Helfrich, who not only makes good coffee, but helps make the electricity Americans depend on to power their lives. He’s a coal worker, then a coffee roaster. In that order, for now.
While adjusting to a shiftwork schedule in his mid-20s, Helfrich picked up a coffee-drinking habit.
A decommissioned substation that sat powerless for nearly a year is no longer out of commission.
Central Power Electric Cooperative, a Minot-based generation and transmission cooperative, has disassembled its retired Garrison area substation and moved it 75 miles south to the Lineworker Training Center in Mandan, where it will be used as a training tool. The donated substation is a critical foundational piece of training equipment, which will allow for the development of a training program specifically for substation technicians.
In the heart of Wolford, nestled amid the rolling fields of golden wheat and endless skies, is Father's Farm – a place where redemption grows through fortitude and faith. It is where Jonathan Freeman found a second chance at life.
Freeman, a California native, made his way to North Dakota in 2018 alongside his girlfriend, seeking one of the many job openings the state had to offer.
It’s National Co-op Month! A time to celebrate cooperatives and their role in shaping and supporting the communities where we live, work and play.
While cooperatives operate in many industries and sectors of the economy, seven cooperative principles set them apart from other businesses: voluntary and open membership; democratic member control; members’ economic participation; autonomy and independence; education, training and information; cooperation among cooperatives; and concern for community.
Chet Yoder, director of Father’s Farm in Wolford, a longer-term, faith-centered rehabilitation center for men reentering the community, shares two of his family’s favorite recipes.
His daughter, Kiera Yoder, is to thank for this stovetop mac and cheese, a quick-and-easy comfort meal your family will request time and again. And the juneberry pie – as delicious as it is beautiful – comes from Chet’s sister, Chalon Yoder.
Read about Chet and Father’s Farm here!
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