By Josh P. Crotzer
As a lineman for Horry Electric Cooperative, Sean Brown likes making connections, especially the kind he makes the night before the Touchstone Energy Cooperatives Bowl, an annual all-star high school football game at Doug Shaw Memorial Stadium.
Each December, Brown and other Horry Electric linemen engage with the game’s all-stars for the Lineman Demo Day experience, showing them their tools and equipment and telling them about their linework. This year, when Greenwood High School’s Robert Stevens and Abbeville High School’s Altavious Patterson walked up, Brown knew he wanted to make a connection.
The destruction caused by Hurricane Helene had left thousands in the players’ communities without power just a few months before. Brown was one of the linemen from Horry Electric, who sent a total of six crews, to assist Little River Electric Cooperative in restoring power to its members.
“When I saw where they were from, I wanted them to know I’d been to their community,” says Brown. “Helene really did some damage there, but I also saw what a great place it was. The people were so good to us. They brought us food and really encouraged us the whole time we were there.”
Stevenson was glad that Brown spoke up.
“My power was out for about seven days. It was a hard time,” says Stevens. “He might have been one of the guys that got my power back on, and to see him put a smile on my face. It makes me feel good about the people that do that job.”
That wasn’t the only moment that brought a smile to Stevens’ face that week. As selections to the Touchstone Energy Cooperatives Bowl, Stevens, Patterson, Zayvion King (Ninety-Six High School) and Jayden Martin (T.L. Hanna High School) were among 86 players from across the state who took a break from their practice schedule to help some deserving students have a better Christmas.
On the Thursday before the Dec. 21 game, 44 elementary school students from Myrtle Beach Elementary and Myrtle Beach Primary were matched with players from each team, North and South. The groups were equipped with a list of items that include a mix of the child’s needs and wants and a $150 gift card per child, provided by Horry Electric and South Carolina’s other Touchstone Energy Cooperatives.
“It was a great experience,” says Stevens, who teamed up with Hampton High’s Mandrell Sanders to help their student get clothes, Legos and Spider-Man pajamas. “Kids always bring people together.”
