On May 23, 2000 Ben Franklin visited 35 Richmond City students today at Virginia Power’s corporate headquarters to promote an educational grant made by the electric utility to the Virginia 4-H Foundation.

The Virginia-H Foundation has used an $18,500 grant from Virginia Power to develop an outdoor electrical safety lesson plan to add to the Electrical Energy curriculum that will be taught in public schools this fall.

“Our research underscores the importance of emphasizing outdoor electrical safety,” said Jim Earwood, senior vice president-Bulk Power Delivery, Virginia Power, and president of the Virginia 4-H Foundation Board of Trustees. “Kids know not to stick their finger in an electrical outlet. They are not necessarily aware of some of the dangers associated with outside electrical equipment.”

The educational partnership between the utility and the Virginia 4-H Foundation is designed for elementary school students within the Virginia Power service area.

Franklin (1706-1790), an actor in period costume, conveyed electrical safety tips to students from Blackwell and Clark Springs Elementary Schools. He stressed the following outdoor electrical safety tips to the students:

• Watch out for electric wires in the air. Do not fly kites anywhere near power lines.
• Do not fly kites anywhere near power lines.
• If you see a power line on the ground stay away. Contact your parents or call 911.
• Never play on or try to open a transformer box -- the big green metal boxes often seen outside.
• Never try to climb a substation fence.