The Richland Electric Cooperative Bottled Water scholarship program was developed in 2005 for 4 local schools. The idea behind the program was to reward students that participated in extra curricular activities. One of the cooperative principles is "Concern for Community." REC has always believed in supporting our local schools, often by sponsoring their events. REC realized quickly that we can do and should do more than only a few sponsorships each year. We developed the bottled water program by contacting a distributor that specialized in branding bottled water. The idea was that schools could purchase bottled water from REC for the entire school year. We would place their logo on the water with a small advertisement for REC. The support we received was incredible and schools were very thankful. The program continues to do well and in 15 years we have given over $50,000 in scholarships to local students.