This fall, Chase Dauenhauer will wake up each morning in his home off Bismarck’s River Road to the idyllic view of orange pumpkins streaming through his yard. His neighbor, Dave Pearce, knows the scene well. Every September through October for 43 years, it marked the start of a meaningful day’s work.
Jeff Holzer scrolls through photos on his phone: a quiet country road, a dirt-floor room, colorful pots hanging above an open-fire kitchen and the concrete blocks of partially constructed walls.
“They’re building. They want a new structure, a new house up. They know power’s comin’,” says Holzer, the operations manager at Capital Electric Cooperative.
In November, Holzer will lead a group of 12 volunteers from North Dakota’s electric cooperatives to bring power to the agricultural community of San Luis Palo Grande in north central Guatemala.
Before the military service or statewide public service, community service shaped Brian Kalk’s values.
Growing up in Bottineau, with a father employed by North Central Electric Cooperative, Kalk was inspired early to improve the quality of life for his neighbors. Cooperative values run deep in his story.
As students across the state settle in for another school year, North Dakota voters will decide whether to fund the food that fuels them.
If passed in the November general election, a constitutional measure brought forth by a citizen-led coalition – Together for School Meals – would require state funding for daily school meals. Measure 2 would provide one free breakfast and one free lunch each school day to every student enrolled in public schools and public charter schools. Private and tribal schools may also opt-in for the program.
Anyone who grew up watching “Tom and Jerry” understands the basics of a cat-and-mouse game. The cat devises a new scheme. The mouse finds a way around it. Then the chase begins again.