South Central Power wins chamber of commerce Large Business of the Year Award

LANCASTER − South Central Power Company is the winner of the Lancaster-Fairfield County Chamber of Commerce Large Business of the Year Award.

"We appreciate the nomination and really grateful to be awarded," South Central President/CEO Rick Lemonds. "It's exciting stuff for us."

He said the company is proud of its employees' efforts to be out in the community and participate with local entities.

"From Little League to Habitat for Humanity," Lemonds said. "I think the presence of our South Central Power Foundation in the community is very meaningful. That's also very exciting for us. Certainly, the types of things we do and why we're here, which is to serve our members, probably had as much of an impact (of winning the award) as those other things."

He said one of the company's founding principles is concern for the community, whether that be Lancaster or the other communities it serves.

"We strongly urge our employees to be involved," Lemonds said. "It's one of the primary reasons why we formed the foundation back in 2014. Just to be present and to encourage our employees to volunteer their time and participate in these local things. We will pay employees' salaries up to 16 hours for their participation in local agencies and local programs."

He said employees volunteered about 300 documented hours last year. He said there are probably more hours that were not documented.

The company over the years has also had United Way of Fairfield County board members and chamber of commerce board members.

jbarron@gannett.com

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Twitter/X: @JeffDBarron