At the Association of Louisiana Electric Cooperative’s (ALEC) Annual Awards Banquet, held July 22 in Baton Rouge, Claiborne Electric Office Manager Candy Hardy was awarded the 2024 Kevin Reeves Cooperative Spirit Award.
Each year, ALEC and the Louisiana Member Services Association (LMSA) present this award to an individual cooperative employee for involvement in community service. Each electric cooperative in the state holding a membership in ALEC can nominate one employee for this award. Nominee applications are scored based on the employee’s community service involvement, community impact, and time involvement.
As a Court Appointed Special Advocate, Candy works directly with children who have been removed from their homes due to abuse or neglect. Advocates work as volunteers to make sure the best interest of the child is represented in court and in the home the child is placed in, whether it be a foster home or a relative’s home.
Candy has served as a Advocate since 2019. Duties as an Advocate include monthly visits with the children assigned, with each visit lasting approximately one hour. She participates in all DCFS calls and meetings which pertain to her assigned children. She attends all court proceedings for her assigned cases and prepares a court report for the judge prior to all court hearings. For each child assigned, she logs all contact with the child, parents, DCFS, and the home where the child is placed. Each six months, Candy conducts a wellbeing assessment for each child, monitoring the progress of the child’s family, health, and education.
Candy currently has three assigned cases. Most cases have multiple siblings, so she routinely has several children assigned to her. She does this work on a completely voluntary basis, in addition to her full-time career as Office Manager at Claiborne Electric Cooperative. She said several years ago, she was given a CASA pamphlet that she put in her office drawer. Every time she opened the drawer, she saw the pamphlet and feel an urgency to get involved. After three years of looking at the pamphlet, she made the call to start her training and become an Advocate. Today, she urges others to get involved. She said the program has an enormous need for more volunteers to be come Advocates.
As the winner of the 2024 Kevin Reeves Cooperative Spirit Award, Candy received a plaque, a $100 award, and a $200 donation to CASA made in her name.
