April is Child Abuse Prevention Month and Bluebonnet Electric Cooperative is raising awareness and providing information about area organizations involved in the prevention of abuse and support of victims.

Keep an eye on our social media channels in April to learn more about how you can get involved, key community events and resources. The cooperative’s member service centers in Bastrop, Brenham, Giddings, Lockhart and Manor will gleam with blue lights at night to support the awareness effort.

Area groups working to prevent abuse include three Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) agencies that serve 11 counties in the Bluebonnet region, as well as the Children’s Advocacy Center that serves Bastrop, Lee and Fayette counties and the SAFE Alliance.

These local area organizations welcome volunteers and donations. At CASA, volunteers are adults who have been pre-screened and received training to work with children in the foster care system. Volunteers undergo a pre-screening interview, background check, 30-hour (virtual or classroom) training and observation hours in a courtroom. Volunteers can then be appointed by judges to work with one case (or a set of siblings).

The Children’s Advocacy Center that serves Bastrop, Lee and Fayette counties and SAFE Alliance would benefit from donations. View their wish lists at childrensadvocacycenter.org/get-involved and safeaustin.org/get-involved.

If you suspect child abuse, neglect or exploitation, report it by one of two ways: online at txabusehotline.org or by calling the Texas Abuse Hotline at 800-252-5400 (available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year). Learn more about this topic at childwelfare.gov/topics/preventing.

Find out about local child abuse assistance agencies in our social media this month.

Looking for a good day to thank the men and women who build, restore and maintain your — and Bluebonnet’s — power supply system? Try Monday, April 11. That’s National Lineman Appreciation Day, and it’s an opportunity to acknowledge the 24/7 work done by lineworkers to construct, maintain, and restore your power after an outage and to keep the power flowing at all times, even under dangerous conditions and during severe weather.

Electric cooperatives observe the second Monday in April as National Lineman Appreciation Day, after a 2014 decision by the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association board. If you feel like thanking them twice, lineworkers at all utilities are celebrated on April 18, based on a U.S. Senate resolution passed in 2013.

Check Bluebonnet’s social media on April 11 for a tribute to Bluebonnet’s lineworkers, and feel free to share your thanks on those posts.

Want to become a lineworker? Bluebonnet accepts applications for its U.S. Department of Labor Certified Apprentice Program on the first Tuesday of every month. Find applications and other career opportunities at bluebonnet.coop.

A return to the Texas Lineman’s Rodeo

A team of Bluebonnet Electric Cooperative lineworkers — journeymen and apprentices — will once again compete against their peers from across Texas in the annual Texas Lineman’s Rodeo on July 16, 2022, at Nolte Island Park near Seguin.

The annual contest was canceled in 2020 and 2021 due to COVID-19 and extreme weather. Conditions are still being monitored in order to provide a safe environment for lineworkers from across the state to compete at the event.

At the competition, there will be a variety of judged and timed events that mirror much of the work lineworkers do daily: climbing poles, repairing power lines and working on equipment. There is even an event involving a pole-top rescue of a mannequin the size and weight of an injured lineworker. Apprentices who compete also take a written test. If that’s not enough to fill your day, there’s even a competitive barbecue cook-off. 

For more information, visit tlra.org.