by Caleb Jones | cjones@amec.coop
Note: This column by Caleb Jones is from the October 2025 edition of Rural Missouri magazine.
Fall in Missouri means a lot of things – cool mornings, combines rolling through fields and leaves changing colors. It also means football, and on Saturdays, you’ll find me at Faurot Field or next to a radio or TV tuned in to the Mizzou Tigers. It’s a season full of energy – on the farm, in the community and in the stands.
In the middle of all this excitement is another tradition worth celebrating: National Co-op Month.
Now, when we say we’re celebrating Co-op Month, what we really mean is we’re celebrating you. The truth is electric cooperatives wouldn’t exist without their members. Long before we ever flipped a light switch, neighbors banded together to form these life-changing organizations. That spirit of working side by side is still what keeps us strong today.
I was reminded of that not long ago when a neighbor called needing a hand with a downed tree. By the time I got there, three trucks had already pulled up, chainsaws buzzing and kids tossing branches like it was a game. Nobody asked whose tree it was. It didn’t matter. Around here, when something needs to be done, folks pitch in.
That’s the same spirit the teams at your electric co-op try to live out every day. Like our power lines, our concern for community runs through everything we do. That commitment shows up in ways both big and small. It might mean sponsoring our state’s brightest teenagers to spend a week on the Youth Tour to Washington, D.C. Or it might mean helping a small business improve its energy efficiency so it can grow. Other times it might simply mean neighbors helping neighbors, whether through a community project, a safety program or a simple act of service.
We know your priorities go beyond simply keeping the lights on. You care about reliability, saving money and knowing if there’s a storm that threatens your power, your local co-op will be there – whether that means fighting mud, snow or even tornadoes. That kind of grit is what it takes to be part of a team.
Around here, we like to think of ourselves as Team Co-op. Just like we can count on the Tigers doing their best on game day, your cooperative shows up for you day in and day out. That’s not just a job to us. It’s a promise.
So this Co-op Month, I want to say thank you for being the most important part of Team Co-op. You’re more than customers – you’re owners, neighbors and partners in this work. A cooperative isn’t just about electricity. It’s about people pulling together to make life better for everyone. That’s worth celebrating, not just in October, but every single day.
Caleb Jones is the executive vice president and CEO of Missouri Electric Cooperatives. He is a member of Boone Electric Cooperative.