Numerous Iowa companies, nominated by their local electric cooperatives, received Iowa Venture Awards during the Iowa Association of Electric Cooperatives’ Annual Meeting on Dec. 5.

When IAEC's Chuck Soderberg traveled to a rural village in Guatemala in October, he was shocked to see how difficult life was without access to electricity. There was no running water, no refrigeration or indoor plumbing. Thanks to a cooperative effort, change is coming.

Before Iowa’s four electric cooperative linemen went to Central America, they had some idea what it would be like in the small rural village of Salina 7 Cerros in north-central Guatemala. Once there, however, it was beyond anything they had ever imagined or experienced.