News
Trades in local area assist a worthy cause
Scott Wagar
10/21/2014
If individuals have never heard about the red paper clip trade it is quite a story and something that Pete Erickson of North Central Electric has taken to heart; and, which will now assist a number of local communities the co-op serves during the Christmas season.
“There was this guy, I believe he was from around Vancouver, that took it upon himself to make trades for a year, trading up each time by finding a willing partner,” said Erickson, who is the member service manager at North Central Electric. “He started with a red paper clip and started trading up with willing donors, and at the end of the year, he had a house.
“In this age of social media he wanted to make a point in getting together with people in making connections,” Erickson added. “He ended up donating the house to the community he was from and since then he has become a motivational speaker and shared his story.”
From the simple red paper clip, this project has now become known worldwide as Operation Red Paper Clip. This summer, Erickson attended a co-op meeting where one of his peers from another co-op told the story of the red paper clip and stated that this type of project would be a good project to do back at their local co-ops.
“Some of us took it upon ourselves to do that,” Erickson said.
“The idea was that each co-op would attempt to do the red paper clip trade and at our annual Basin Electric meeting in November, where there are thousands of people, we would bring whatever we had for our last trade and have a silent auction. We ended up with a star quilt.”
Although North Central didn’t start with a red paper clip, the company offered a North Central Electric baseball cap to Dakota College at Bottineau where Courtney Vandal (DCB’s foundation director) traded a DCB sweatshirt for the hat.
The co-op then went to the A-Frame at Lake Metigoshe and traded with them the DCB sweatshirt for a $50 gift certificate.
From there, North Central Electric went to the Bottineau Winter Park (BWP) where Brad Knudson, the general manager of the BWP. traded a $248 season ski pass for the $50 gift certificate.
“We were now getting serious and we wanted to get something that would say north central North Dakota because we are one of 17 states at the convention,” Erickson said.
“So, I wanted to get a star quilt because that would say north central North Dakota. Fortunately, I talked to Lisa Masvelton who works here at North Central and works part time at the A-Frame, suggested Tara Lagerquist from Dunseith and who also works up there, too.
“Lisa talked to her and Tara said yes. So, Tara made a star quilt for us and we traded the ski pass for the quilt even though Tara doesn’t ski,” Erickson continued.
Lagerquist’s star quilt will now go to the electrical convention with hopes North Central can receive a nice price for the quilt in the silent auction.
The money the local co-op raises will be placed in the Willie Wirehand Christmas Giving Fund.
“We use the fund to give to local organizations so people can have a better Christmas,” Erickson said. “We think that our Willie Wirehand’s program is pretty special because it makes a difference. This is our third year in doing it and like anything it takes a little bit to get going. We believe that the star quilt is going to grant the most money we have had since we started this project.”
Until North Central goes to the Basin Electric Convention on Nov. 4, the quilt star will be on display in the co-op’s front office. Individuals are welcome to come and see the quilt and place a bid on it before it goes to the convention.