LUCASVILLE — A new scholarship has been set up in honor of Blake Rodgers, Buckeye Rural Electric Cooperative lineman who died on Dec. 23, 2022, trying to restore electrical power in Lawrence County after winter storm Elliot hit the area.

On Tuesday, the Community Foundation of Ohio’s Electric Cooperatives presented a $13,000 check to Scioto County Career Technical Center to advance the Blake Rodgers Memorial Scholarship. 

In honor of his memory, the scholarship will help pay tuition fees for students attending the power line mechanic program at the Scioto County Career Technical Center in Lucasville, where Rodgers attended. 

Rodgers’ mother and stepfather, Brandie and Brandon Hale, attended the presentation, along with representatives from Ohio’s Electric Cooperatives and Buckeye Rural Electric. 

“Blake touched so many lives in one way or another. Through the scholarship fund, we intend to keep Blake’s memory alive by continuing to help others, as Blake would have,” said Brandie Hale. 

“The Community Foundation is honored to be able to provide financial resources in Blake Rodgers name, to help future students obtain initial training as they begin to pursue a career in a field that is so vital to all of us. Our lives and businesses depend on electricity every day and linemen make it possible to receive this essential service,” said Doug Miller, vice president, Ohio’s Electric Cooperatives and The Community Foundation. 

The funds donated by The Community Foundation of OEC were raised from the sale of Ohio license plates honoring fallen lineworkers