Broad River Electric Cooperative, as part of their year-long 75th Anniversary celebration, dedicated a new street adjacent to its headquarters in Gaffney. Co-op Way is 778 feet of pavement that runs from Hamrick Street to the Ryder Refrigerated Services Distribution Center located directly behind the co-op facility.
“This tiny road represents a long legacy of cooperation, service and progress,” said Josh Crotzer, Broad River Electric’s Coordinator of Member Services. “It is a connection between industry and community. That is why we named it Co-op Way.”
The new street changes the physical address of both the distribution center (142 Co-op Way) and Broad River Electric Auditorium (128 Co-op Way). It does not change the mailing address of either company.
These changes were more than ceremonial. The new street and addresses are also intended to provide truck drivers a more accurate GPS destination when coming to the distribution center. Broad River Electric officials worked with Cherokee County, Nestle Foods, Ryder, and Wilbur-Ellis (formerly Allied Protein) officials to achieve the street naming.
“Seventy-five years ago, it was local farmers who banded together to form their own electric cooperative,” said Crotzer. “They worked with county officials and one another to make their community better. We wanted to celebrate that spirit of cooperation and innovation as it continues today.”
Broad River Electric Cooperative is a non-profit, member-owned distribution cooperative providing services to more than 20,000 members in Cherokee, Spartanburg Union and Newberry counties in South Carolina and Cleveland, Polk and Rutherford counties in North Carolina in order to improve the quality of their lives.
As a Touchstone Energy Cooperative, Broad River strives to serve those members with accountability, integrity, innovation, and commitment to community.