Donated Digger Truck Leaves a Trail of Goodwill

For a small digger truck at Pennsylvania's largest electric cooperative, 17 years of hard service might ordinarily spell the end of a good career. But through a sequence of coincidence and international goodwill, this useful utility vehicle has been beautifully restored and given a new lease on life.

A Chain Reaction of Giving

Cooperativa de Electrificacion Rural de Alfaro Ruiz (Alfaro Ruiz), a small electric co-op in central Costa Rica, had always relied on their own heavy manual labor or that of contractors to set its distribution line posts.

"We used to make the holes with shovels and lift poles with human strength using rope and chains," said Sebastian Miranda, Alfaro Ruiz's lead engineer.

The arrangement was expensive and time-consuming and often meant new service installations were delayed by a contractor's unpredictable schedule.

Around the middle of 2008, some Alfaro Ruiz employees came to the United States to visit and train at their sister co-op, Somerset Rural Electric Cooperative in southern Pennsylvania.

"We asked them, 'What are your biggest problems?'" said Rich Bauer, Somerset's CEO and general manager.

It was a question that would set off a chain reaction of giving that would last months and span thousands of miles.

After hearing of Alfaro Ruiz's need for a digger truck, Bauer talked to his good friend Steve Rasmussen, general manager and CEO of Adams Electric Cooperative, Inc. Adams, a large distribution co-op in nearby Gettysburg, has been extremely generous with equipment donations to Central American co-ops and was instrumental in Somerset beginning its sister relationship with Alfaro Ruiz in 2003.

"Overall Somerset is a small co-op," said Bauer. "We don't have the kind of truck turnaround to donate. But Adams does."

Adams has sent nine trucks in the past decade to co-ops in Central America, including several to its own sister co-op, COOPELESCA in Costa Rica, and a bucket truck recently donated to Alfaro Ruiz through Somerset.

Rasmussen told Bauer they happened to have a digger they were ready to get rid of, but warned him it was a small, medium-duty vehicle.

"I said, 'Perfect," said Bauer.

"That truck was beautiful"

The truck, a 1991 International-4900, is equipped with a center-mounted hydraulic arm, which gives added stability in the hills that blanket the counties in Adams' coverage area.

"It works really well on uneven terrain," said Ron Plank, Adams' director of Operations.

This feature and its smaller size make it ideal for setting poles in Alfaro Ruiz's coverage area as well, where roads are narrow and lines must be run over miles of mountainous terrain.

Plank said by mid-2008, the truck had reached the end of its useful life for Adams. The co-op was planning to either donate it or auction it, and had already sent it for minor refurbishments when Bauer approached them.

After Adams agreed to donate the truck to Alfaro Ruiz through Somerset, Bauer decided to pay for a full restoration of the vehicle.

"I wanted to make sure we sent Alfaro Ruiz something nice looking and running just as well," said Bauer.

Plank contacted DUECO, the York, Pennsylvania, utility truck outfitter that was refurbishing the vehicle, to discuss the upgrades. During the conversation, the DUECO sales representative was so impressed by the philanthropy of the project, he approached his supervisor about getting involved as well. Within a few days, DUECO agreed to split the refurbishment costs with Somerset.

Several weeks and more than $10,000 worth of time and materials later, the truck was completed and ready for shipment.

"I'll tell you, that truck was beautiful," said Bauer. "Not a spot of rust on it."

"We can provide better service to our members"

In February 2009, the truck was sent back to Adams, where a local hauler loaded it on a flatbed for the 1,000-mile trip to a shipping dock in Port Everglades, Florida. On March 3, the vehicle was loaded aboard a ship with passage to Puerto Limon, Costa Rica, arranged by the NRECA International Foundation. And on March 7, Alfaro Ruiz had its first digger truck.

"It took less than a year from the time we requested the truck to the time it was with us," said Miranda. "This is a great program. Thanks to you we have grown as a cooperative and can provide better service to our members."

Demand for new distribution lines and an ongoing fiber-optic project meant Alfaro Ruiz wasted no time putting the truck into heavy use.

"Thanks to this truck, we have reduced our work times," said Miranda. "The risk of accidents has also fallen, and emergency response is faster."

"They are excited beyond belief," said Bauer. "It's very rewarding to see how happy they are."

Bauer says while the truck saves Alfaro Ruiz a lot of time and money, it also offers the small co-op something intangible, yet very real: pride.

"You're doing it yourself," he said. "That's a really important thing."

Bauer touts the benefits of U.S. co-ops working with sister cooperatives and actively encourages others to join the program.

"It doesn't take money. It takes time, and that's it," he said. "But the fulfillment you get out of it is 10 times more than what you put into it."

For more information on NRECA International's work in Costa Rica, visit the Costa Rica project page.

Learn more about NRECA International Foundation.