Snapping Shoals EMC employee Scott Fuss was recently honored with the Distinguished Cooperator award from the Georgia Cooperative Council. The award recognizes and honors individuals for their outstanding achievement and service to the cooperative movement. Fuss received the Distinguished Cooperator award at the Council’s annual meeting in Macon.

Fuss, who has been a Snapping Shoals EMC (SSEMC) employee for more than 25 years, is heavily involved in the Newton community, his church and at SSEMC. Well-known for his willingness to lend a hand to anyone who is in need, he regularly shares his knowledge and skills for SSEMC and in the community. He is also known throughout the state for his artistic contributions and talents.

Fuss is the public relations & marketing coordinator for Snapping Shoals EMC where he facilitates all aspects of graphic communications for Snapping Shoals EMC. He is also an illustrator for Newton Community Magazine and a master knife-maker who regularly donates knives to organizations all over the country. Fuss also plays multiple musical instruments and sings with the Snapping Shoals EMC Quartet at events throughout the state

Fuss has lived in Newton County most of his life, growing up on a dairy farm that was operated by his grandfather and father. At the age of 12, he became an apprentice to a sheep shearer. To this day, he regularly shears sheep across the southeast and at agriculture events throughout the state. Fuss collaborated with Snapping Shoals EMC and other SSEMC employees to create the first sheep-resident solar farm in Georgia at the coop’s Cooperative Solar facility in Newton County. He is actively involved with Newton County’s FFA program, the Georgia FFA-FCCLA Center in Covington and the Georgia FFA.

Fuss is also a conservationist at heart. He is actively working with several community members to create and certify pollination gardens as monarch butterfly fly away habitats across Newton County. He also serves on the Friends of Newton Parks Board where he has been a creative landscape mastermind in making Chimney Park a peaceful urban woodland that attracts children and adults of all ages and abilities with community activities and elements that encourage play, exploration, imagination and respect for nature and history.