GreyStone Power Employee Recognized for Community and Volunteer Service

During a statewide meeting on Monday, GreyStone Power employee Charles McKinley was recognized for providing a safe work environment for his colleagues and safe home environment for children.

Serving as a GreyStone Power staking technician since 1995, the Temple resident was recently named Employee of the Year and presented the 2012 Community Service and Volunteerism Award.

“Charles helped to create a new culture among our employees,” says Gary Miller, president/CEO of GreyStone Power. “Through his efforts, employees have a higher regard for safety both on and off the job, and their concern for safety doesn’t stop at the end of the workday."

Under McKinley’s leadership, Miller said employees have moved from a mindset of noticing something unsafe and possibly reporting it--to not only reporting the threat but taking action to alleviate it.

McKinley takes a desire to create a safe respite beyond the workplace. The McKinley family has grown from two children, ages 19 and 13, to welcome four foster teens, ages 16, 15, 14 and 12.

In what has become a beacon of comfort, the McKinley home now hosts up to 30 children and young adults each Sunday where they offer a devotional, play games and socialize in a safe place.

“Charles has made a huge difference in the lives of these kids,” says Miller. “He and Ingrid have created a sanctuary within their home and deserve to be recognized for providing nurturing, discipline, moral instruction and love.”

The purpose of the Community Service and Volunteerism Award is to spotlight the outstanding efforts and initiatives of EMC management, individual directors and employees who are working to build stronger communities and to encourage other EMCs in the state to give liberally as well.

McKinley was presented the Community Service and Volunteerism Award during Georgia EMC’s Annual Meeting on Nov. 12 in Savannah. To commemorate the occasion, a donation in his name will be made to a charity of his choice.

GreyStone Power serves more than 104,500 members in portions of eight counties, including Paulding, Douglas, Fulton, Cobb, Carroll, Bartow, Fayette and Coweta counties. Learn more at www.greystonepower.com.

Georgia EMC is the statewide trade association representing the state’s 42 electric cooperatives, Oglethorpe Power Corp., Georgia Transmission Corp. and Georgia System Operations Corp. Through this statewide network, the EMCs provide electricity and related services to more than four million people, half of Georgia’s population, across 73 percent of the state’s land area.