Withlacoochee River Electric Cooperative Shares History, Veteran Support With Spring Hill Rotary

When Withlacoochee River Electric Cooperative General Manager David Lambert and West Hernando District Manager Ben Cooper addressed the Spring Hill Rotary Club on March 19, they brought more than a standard utility briefing. Alongside the cooperative's history, community programs, and member services, they carried a distinction no electric cooperative in the country had ever held before.

WREC was designated the first Purple Heart Electric Cooperative in the United States after a proclamation Lambert signed on Feb. 17. The announcement went public during the 20th annual Purple Heart ceremony in Citrus County, where Gary Steele, WREC's manager of member relations and a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, read the proclamation before hundreds of veterans, Gold Star families, and supporters.

Steele was clear about what the designation does and does not mean. It carries no promise of discounts or free power. Instead, as Steele explained, it represents an ongoing pledge to support local veterans. The distinction matters: WREC is staking its institutional identity on veteran support rather than attaching the title to a billing program.

For a cooperative that serves communities across multiple Florida counties, including a significant swath of Hernando, the Rotary visit reflected a dual mission: explaining what WREC does for its members while drawing attention to what it has committed to do for those who served. Lambert and Cooper walked the Spring Hill audience through the cooperative's history and the programs available to members, grounding the organization's veteran commitment in the broader context of community service that has defined cooperative utilities since their founding.

The Purple Heart Electric Cooperative designation places WREC in a category of its own nationally, a benchmark set in Citrus County and brought back to Hernando through the Rotary presentation just weeks later.