In 2012, 28 lineworkers and four supervisors from Indiana’s electric cooperatives made their first mission trip to Guatemala. Their goal: to bring electricity to three impoverished villages. Over a month’s time, their difficult mission was accomplished. But they knew there was more that needed to be done to help their new friends in Central America.

That “more” meant moving beyond just electrifying villages. It meant helping provide sustainable change — enhancing the communities, improving the lives of the villagers, ensuring the futures of the younger residents include opportunities they could once only dream about. And, so, in 2015, Project Indiana, was created to address these new goals. 

Meeting those new challenges would entail a partnership between electric cooperatives, community organizations, businesses and folks like you who believe we can all play a part in making the world a better place.

Indiana’s electric cooperatives return to Guatemala every other year to electrify a village.

The villages we have helped in the past have been in remote, rural areas. Some have been in jungles, some high up in the mountains, accessible only be narrow, winding dirt paths. Residents of villages like these are the poorest of the poor. With the assistance of the Project Indiana program and caring folks like you their lives can dramatically improve.

A trip was completed to Pena Roja, Guatemala, in May 2023. The next trip is expected in early 2025.

Since the core mission of the trip is to bring light to villages that do not yet have power, lineworkers from electric co-ops throughout Indiana are key members of the Project Indiana team.

Because so much more can be accomplished while our group is there, previous trips have also included nutrition clinics for children and expectant mothers, and programs and contributions for village schools.

Future opportunities abound as more people get involved in Project Indiana. Various needs exist in the villages we visit. Your contributions to Project Indiana will go toward meeting those needs.

Quite simply, lives are changed during the trip — not just the lives of the Guatemalan villagers who are introduced to electricity for the first time but also the Project Indiana volunteers who are touched by the hard-working, humble, welcoming, grateful villagers. 

The village men pitch in to help set poles, string the lines and wire the buildings. The women cook for the linemen and wash their clothes by hand. The children watch in awe as the key to better futures is constructed before their eyes. They aspire to be lineworkers, just like their new heroes.

Relationships are forged. New beginnings take root. 

Like the Indiana electric co-op linemen who make the trip to Guatemala, you, too, can be a part of Project Indiana’s life-changing experience. Your contributions go directly to the core mission of Project Indiana — electrifying and supporting our adopted communities.

The easiest way you can get involved in this mission is to contribute financially to the cause. Visit ProjectIndiana.org to donate. While at ProjectIndiana.org read about past mission trips, watch videos about this life-changing program, and look at photos of people whose futures are brighter because of Project Indiana.

One hundred percent of all donations to Project Indiana go directly to the mission of electrifying and supporting the Guatemalan communities. 

Project Indiana is a 501(c)(3) organization, and contributions are tax deductible. Won’t you consider helping to empower global communities one village at a time?