Enduring Community Charity Will Buy Holiday Gifts for 400 Needy Children

FARMINGTON, MO. — While a recent national survey portrays a grim outlook for charitable giving during the 2010 holiday season, the Electrical Connection has maintained its annual giving to brighten Christmas for disadvantaged children in St Francois County. The group donated $3,000 on December 14, 2010, to the St. Francois County Sheriff’s Association annual “Shop with a Cop” program to vault the group to its $40,000 fundraising goal. The Electrical Connection is a partnership of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local One and the St. Louis Chapter, National Electrical Contractors Association (NECA). The gift will be used to purchase holiday gifts for 400 needy children in St. Francois County.

Although the electrical contracting industry is itself suffering from depression-level unemployment (near 40 percent), the Electrical Connection believes it is critical to continue its support of community programs in the neighborhoods in which it serves. The group has supported the “Shop with the Cop” program for 16 consecutive years, donating $37,500.

The Electrical Connection’s support for the 17-year-old program comes at a time when more than one-third of all nonprofits saw donations fall in the first nine months of this year, according to a study by the University of Indiana Center on Philanthropy reported last month in the Chronicle of Philanthropy. The survey of more than 2,500 charities nationally found 43 percent of organizations expected no increase at all over 2009 holiday giving, while 22 percent forecast a decline (see: http://philanthropy.com/article/Study-Paints-Grim-Giving/125562/?sid=&utm_source=&utm_medium=en).

“‘Shop with a Cop’ is important to St. Francois County and important to the Electrical Connection,” said Danny Miller, owner of Farmington-based Total Electric. “It has become a holiday tradition where neighbor helps neighbor. Even with the construction industry enduring high levels of unemployment, the Electrical Connection has made it a priority to continue supporting ‘Shop with a Cop’ because it gives back to the community we serve.”

Members of the Electrical Connection provide safe and reliable electrical construction, maintenance, repair and replacement services across eastern Missouri. More is online at www.electricalconnection.org.