Skills Shine With Solar-Power Projects
The Business Courier (Cincinnati)
By: Kathleen Norris
First published: July 21, 2008
Charity doesn't always begin at home.
Several years ago, Allen Rainey wanted to bring electric power to a rural property he owns in Indiana. Astonished at the quoted price, he canvassed options.
"I knew solar power existed," he said. "So I thought, 'Let me check that out.'"
The sun shone on his efforts. After some study, Rainey installed a system that runs lights, tools, fans, a well pump and a freezer, among other appliances - and set on a course that has electrified his life.
A retired journalist with a midlife master's degree in theology, Rainey assumed he would become a missionary pastor. His farm project, however, convinced his wife that his destiny was in some way tied to solar power.
So seeking a connection between two disparate ideals, in 2001 Rainey volunteered for a missionary team installing solar-powered medical refrigeration in Honduras. The click was instantaneous. By 2002 he had formed his own faith-based organization, SonLight Power, and returned to Honduras with a team of volunteers to install solar-lighting systems in two churches and repair a medical system.
In July 2003, a Honduran teachers association recruited SLP to install systems in remote rural schools.
"Bringing a stable power source to these schools drastically changes the education program," said Rainey. "Children in schools without electricity rarely have the opportunity to continue education past the sixth grade. Following a school lighting ceremony, a father thanked us for 'taking the machete out of his daughter's hands.'"
The project has grown exponentially. In June, SonLight Power installed its 50th solar electric system, with a goal to ultimately electrify nearly 400 rural schools. Its work now has attracted support from Honduran First Lady Xomara Castro de Zelaya, whose office is facilitating customs and assisting with transportation for teams of volunteer installers and their equipment.
"Thank you very much for your interest in improving and developing education in our country," Castro de Zelaya said in a letter to Rainey. "We are eager to lend all possible support to facilitate the project."
Rainey, meanwhile, has his ministry and his earthly recompense.
"I believe I'm doing what God wants me to do with the talents he's developed in me," he said. "The reward is that I can see people's lives changed instantly and forever."
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