YEC member Max Phillips shares the value of friendship, community

As we cel­e­brate this year’s Co-op Month dur­ing Octo­ber, it’s impor­tant to remem­ber why we exist—to serve our mem­bers and com­mu­ni­ties. One of our sev­en gov­ern­ing prin­ci­ples is Con­cern for Com­mu­ni­ty, and noth­ing exem­pli­fies our com­mit­ment to this bet­ter than find­ing unique peo­ple with­in our local areas who share the same val­ues.

Life­long YEC mem­ber Max Phillips cel­e­brat­ed his 99th birth­day this year and judg­ing by the size­able stack of birth­day cards he received, he also had a chance to cel­e­brate his love for peo­ple. A mem­ber of Park Bap­tist Church in Rock Hill for 88 years, Phillips has spent his life build­ing rela­tion­ships and car­ing for his neigh­bors.

When draft­ed for World War II in the 1940s, Phillips proud­ly accept­ed the call and served as an avi­a­tion met­al­smith, work­ing on amphibi­ous air­planes and serv­ing his coun­try. After his time in the Navy was over, Phillips and his late wife, Mar­garet, spent the next 50 years trav­el­ing across the coun­try in their Airstream car­a­vans, mak­ing mem­o­ries and friends wher­ev­er they went. Before his wife of 73 years passed, he made a vow to her that he would con­tin­ue going out into the com­mu­ni­ty and build­ing gen­uine rela­tion­ships. In fact, Phillips says, “I decid­ed long ago that every per­son I meet will become a friend of mine.”

These days, this often involves Phillips invit­ing neigh­bors, like his house­keep­er and tellers from his local bank, over to share a home­cooked meal with him in his home. A prod­uct of his child­hood grow­ing up on a farm, Phillips reflects on his past and how it has influ­enced his life today.

“Grow­ing up, we did­n’t have much, but we always had food,” he says. “To this day, I still enjoy being able to con­nect with oth­ers by cook­ing them meals and hav­ing a con­ver­sa­tion togeth­er at a table.”

Tak­ing the time to lis­ten and share with oth­ers has proven mean­ing­ful through­out Phillip­s’s long life and is a les­son we take to heart. Just like YEC always looks out for you, and like Phillips always looks out for his neigh­bors, we encour­age you to always look out for one anoth­er because we know you have a lot to offer.

BY ERIN C. POWELL

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Attention Veterans

Active and for­mer mem­bers of our Armed Ser­vices, please join us at our York and Fort Mill office loca­tions on Thurs­day, Nov. 11, 2021, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., for our 6th Annu­al Vet­er­ans Day Cel­e­bra­tion.

Sim­ply pull up to the dri­ve-thru to receive a small token of our appre­ci­a­tion for the ser­vice, sac­ri­fice, ded­i­ca­tion and fear­less­ness each of our vet­er­ans has giv­en so we can enjoy our free­dom.

Please bring a copy of your pow­er bill and your DD-214, mil­i­tary ID or proof of enlist­ment to receive a spe­cial gift and a $20 pow­er bill cred­it. We hope to see you there!