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Building scaffolding

Continuing a legacy of service

TVA devotes 91st anniversary to volunteerism

For five days, at 37 nonprofit and civic organizations throughout the region, more than 750 TVA employees, contractors and retirees united for a singular purpose.

Serve those who call the Valley region home.

TVA employees celebrated the enterprise’s 91st anniversary in May by investing their time and talents into a week of service that totaled nearly 2,800 volunteer hours.

Under royal blue Mississippi skies, two dozen team members from TVA’s Southwest region applied their handiwork to a Habitat for Humanity build just east of Starkville.

At food pantries in Tupelo, Mississippi, and Decatur, Alabama, team members prepped produce and goods for distribution.

In Nashville, Knoxville and Chattanooga, Tennessee, they packaged groceries at food pantries, applied fresh paint to nonprofit buildings and passed out toys to children at a hospital.

They brightened up Ronald McDonald House locations in Knoxville and Chattanooga, and painted park benches in Kentucky.

At DeBusk Family Boys and Girls Club and Emerald Youth Foundation in Knoxville, TVA volunteers painted learning spaces and prepped STEM and reading materials for kids.

In Jackson, Tennessee, they packed snack bags for kids. In Memphis, they worked with the Junior Achievement of Memphis and the Mid-South.

They pulled weeds, cleared brush and branches, tended to box gardens and installed wiring at Habitat for Humanity homes.

All in the name of service to communities and people across the region.

“Service to others is foundational to TVA’s mission and, across the region, you can see the passion and dedication of our people supporting our communities,” Jeff Lyash, TVA President and CEO, said. “They bring their talents and energy to their work every day.

“It’s inspiring to see our teams share that energy with nonprofits and community organizations that, like TVA, uphold a mission to benefit others.”

Written into the earliest chapters of TVA’s story are guidelines on power production, flood control, river navigation, agricultural development, environmental stewardship, economic development and innovation – always with an aim of bettering life in the Valley region.

Those elements hold true today, even as TVA continues writing its story.

“TVA’s mission of service is timeless,” Lyash said. “It guides our path forward, and it places our focus on helping our region and its people thrive."

Riding adaptive bike.

Knox County ADA coordinator Carly Pearson rides an adaptive mountain bike at the Trotter Bluff Adaptive Trail near Douglas Dam.

‘We make a difference’

In addition to generating electricity, TVA empowers people through programs that improve the quality of their lives and provide new opportunities.

“I’m proud that TVA’s here to serve all the people of the Valley,” Janice Horn, TVA’s senior program manager of Environmental Justice, said. “We make a difference in energy efficiency, in our environment and in economic development.”

TVA is pursuing cleaner energy technologies and reducing energy burdens through TVA EnergyRight’s Home Uplift and the suite of Uplift programs for schools and businesses.

TVA seeks public input on projects and consults with Native American Tribes on sites of interest.

The enterprise also hosts the Community Information Hub, which links communities to resources in four areas – broadband and digital literacy, energy and environmental justice, enhanced community resiliency and economic empowerment.

Other Environmental Justice grants help residents and visitors experience the outdoors through inclusive recreation.

TVA’s economic initiatives help fund the Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation’s STEM Centers, school robotics programs and Tennessee Urban League grants, as well as bringing green jobs to the region.

“When you look at our region and the things that TVA does, we make a difference,” Horn said.


“At TVA, we're listening. It makes a difference when you hear people, when you care about them, and when you care about what they think.”
–Janice Horn, senior program manager of TVA Environmental Justice 

 

PHOTO AT TOP OF PAGE: TVA employees construct scaffolding as part of a May 2024 Habitat for Humanity home build in Starkville, Mississippi.

 

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