POWERGRAMS

14 All 10 APSO chapters take part in the campaign. Employees from the Auburn, Enterprise, Eufaula, Headland and Phenix City business offices, along with Plant Farley in Dothan, regularly donate items. Several business offices have a Support Our Troops station, where APSO supplies cards for customers to write encouraging notes to service members. The project hit close to home for Katrina Haynes, APSO's state president in 2013. Haynes, a substation engineer in Eufaula, has a relative who served in the Marine Corps. "APSO sent a box to my husband's cousin, who served overseas," she said. "It really touched him that people thought about him while he was deployed. He was really appreciative, and he still talks about it." "We have so many Alabama Power employees and family members who serve," Haynes said. "We're so close to Fort Rucker – it's in Southeast Division, and in our service territory. We want to support our troops there and throughout the world." Thinking outside the diamond Farley APSO's Peppi Cooper recently mailed eight special boxes to troops. It's a big job, organizing the donations, filling the boxes and delivering them to the Dothan Post Office. Cooper devotes time on weekends to prepare packages for troops in several countries. "I've always been a big patriot," said Cooper, whose family has strong military ties. Her stepfather, Thomas Merrit, and her uncle, Bill Riley, retired from the Navy. Her aunt, Batchie Riley, was among the Army's first female officers. Cooper's 21-year-old daughter, Kasey, is the brainchild behind new Support Our Troops efforts. A star infielder on the softball team at Auburn University, Kasey decided to ask fans at home games to support the military. Auburn University Assistant Athletics Director for Compliance John Heck gave guidance and permitted APSO to set bins at the gates of Jane B. Moore Field. At games, the APSO Support Our Troops video is shown. "Auburn has gone all out to help with this, and APSO members are at all the home games," said Cooper, Farley maintenance and technical training manager. "Now, 2,500 fans walk in the stadium every weekend and hear the message that our troops need us." APSO's Don Cater, Don Chancy, Daniel Haynes, Katrina Haynes and Jessica Mitchell are among members who greet fans and distribute fliers that list military needs: ChapStick, toothbrushes and shampoo; beef jerky, candy, crackers, gum and microwave popcorn; drink mixes for coffee, hot chocolate and flavored water; and magazines and puzzles. "Beef jerky is the most highly prized item," Cooper said, smiling. "They'd rather have a bag of beef jerky than 10 tubes of toothpaste." U.S. Army Maj. Michael Ishida, stationed in Egypt as part of 1SB Aviation Company Task Force - Multinational Force and Observers, distributes APSO donations to the troops. He said the soldiers always look forward to the packages and connecting with APSO, "from back home in the U.S." "Thank you so much for the care packages you sent to the Aviation Company in Task Force Sinai," wrote Ishida, who has been in the Army for 14 years. "We also received the large shipment of Christmas packages that contained the very colorful Auburn scarves, very nice! The Alabama fans really liked those. "We truly appreciate the effort and time you gave to organize this, and I want you to know that this means a lot to the 115 service members in my company who continue to daily serve their nation and families back home," Ishida wrote. In March, serviceman David Kruse – in a 36-member unit of Army, Air Force and Marine personnel – thanked Kasey Cooper and APSO. "It is refreshing knowing there is support for us back home," Kruse wrote. Employees often send Cooper the names of friends and relatives in the military. Cooper recently added Shauntari Jackson, daughter of Farley Project Analyst Crystal Thornton, to APSO's list. Richardson said the APSO gifts reminded her that Phenix City – though far away – was waiting for her return. "It was just providing hope for what I could do when I got home," said Richardson, who retired from the National Guard in 2016 after 25 years. "It got me through the day-to-day tasks and the rhetoric. It reminded me about my future." Farley Operator Matt Nall's son, Mark, and daughter, Vera, serve in the Air Force. Cooper and Southeast/ Farley APSO sent packages to Mark in Qatar and to Vera in Korea for a year. "It means a great deal to me that APSO does this," Matt Nall said. "It's always nice when people back in the states remember you." That, in a nutshell, is APSO's intent, Cooper said. "We want to show our troops that they are not forgotten," she said. "They are in other countries, sleeping on the dirt. The least I can do is to influence others to give. We're going to make it work." Southeast APSO member and Transmission Lines Engineer Chris Carder makes a donation. PHOTO BY DAN ANDERSON

• Cover