On Saturday, April 21, 2017 employees from Paulding Putnam Electric Cooperative (PPEC) spent the morning giving back to their community. Each year PPEC does a community service project, this follows one of the Cooperative Principles, “Concern for Community.” This year they volunteered at the Auglaize Village Museum.
If you’re not familiar with the museum, it’s something quite special. The recreated village is a restoration project of the Defiance County Historical Society. Begun in June 1966, it is an attempt, not only to restore a village with buildings typical of rural northwest Ohio in the early part of the nineteenth century, but also to provide a setting where the visitor becomes uniquely involved in the recreation of history.
PPEC employee Judy Wygant is on the committee that led the project, “I’ve always enjoyed taking my daughter to the Haunted Lantern Tour that was held at the village during the month of October. It was clear that it took a lot of work to get the event accomplished. I knew that this had been done solely by volunteers putting in a lot of work hours. When it came time for us to talk about helping our community, I thought these folks would appreciate it and they certainly did.”
The employees working together were able to get several things accomplished. They helped replace part of the flooring in the church, re-built the outside bread oven, updated some poles and lines for the camping area, and deep cleaned several buildings.
Peter Niagu is also on the community service project committee and says Auglaize Village has many great attractions, “For me personally, it is a really special place, I’ve always been very interested in our history and things of the past. So, for PPEC to participate in keeping the Museum going for years to come, it means a lot to me.”
