After three weeks in the heat, humidity, and altitude in the rural mountains of Guatemala, Jeremy Jochims is back home from the Energy Trails Project where he, alongside a team of 18 linemen from Iowa, Oklahoma, and Colorado, worked to provide over 90 families in the rural villages of El Estucal and Montenegro with electricity for the first time. Gratitude doesn’t even begin to cover the feeling for Jeremy, Foreman at Harrison County REC. When reflecting on his time in Guatem

HCREC Foreman, Jeremy Jochims, continues to prepare for his trip to Guatemala in September where a group of linemen from Iowa, Oklahoma, and Colorado will bring electricity to the remote villages of Montenegro and El Estocal (located near the town of Gastatoya which is three hours from Guatemala City). Working with Jeremy is Kane Thompson, Executive Director at the CREW Center in Woodbine. Together, they are helping Jeremy build strength and endurance needed to work in the st

2026 Planning Committee from IAEC, OAEC, CREA, and NRECA International. In March, the Iowa Association of Electric Cooperative’s (IAEC) Safety Director Scott Meinecke traveled to Guatemala for a project planning trip with representatives from the Oklahoma Association of Electric Cooperatives (OAEC), the Colorado Rural Electric Association (CREA) and NRECA International. IAEC is joining forces with OAEC and CREA to form a team of lineworkers for an NRECA International projec