Our lineworkers are critical infrastructure employees and have remained hard at work in our communities throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Essential electrical work must continue because, now as much as ever, customers rely on their power to keep flowing.
April 18 is National Lineworker Appreciation Day. And our field personnel are certainly feeling the gratitude from the communities they serve 24/7/365. As a way to celebrate this day, we asked customers to send in a digital message, thanking these brave men and women for their hard work and dedication.
And send they did. We received an overwhelming response. In just a few days, more than 6,000 well wishes and heartfelt thanks poured in. These messages will be shared with employees in various ways throughout the weeks and months ahead. The appreciation is mutual.
“Keeping the lights on and helping our customers is gratifying, but seeing how much our customers appreciate us makes it that much more,” says Craig Williams, a line crew supervisor in southeast Columbus.
Ron Foit, a line servicer in Lucasville, has worked some 16-hour days during two recent wind storms that caused outages amid the outbreak. He says customers were incredibly kind and patient considering the circumstances.
“These are hard times. I appreciate our customers, especially when many are struggling,” Foit says. “My heart goes out to them. This incredible response just goes to show how great we all can be when things are down.”
Below are just a few of the comments our lineworkers received.
I didn’t know I appreciate them as much as I do now knowing that my grandsons is an lineman. Knowing what he goes through and risking his life for us. Thank you all lineman.