Newton County Community Matters celebrated its first anniversary and held it annual membership meeting Thursday, Feb. 22 (2024), at the Jasper Methodist Church. Members elected the new slate of officers and shared pieces of an anniversary cake along with other refreshments during the meeting.
The acknowledged purpose of Community Matters is to care about the community and its neighbors, work together to achieve unmet needs and offer a "hand up" to other community members in order to achieve lasting improvements. The member individuals and organizations use networking and collaboration to bring about change, respectively, to improve the health and quality of life of citizens, and to educate and prepare a response to any emergency or disaster that strikes within the county.
The slate of elected officers for 2024 included: Michelle Martin, chair; Jimmy Dale Huskey, pastor of the Jasper Baptist Church, vice chair; Lois Cornwell, Jasper Methodist Church, continue serving as secretary; Ross Harris, Seventh-day Adventist Church (with Jim Martin assisting) as treasurer; Cecilia Reeves and Becky Richardson, both continuing as community-at-large representatives.
Community Matters meetings are held the fourth Thursday of each month at the Jasper Methodist Church Fellowship Hall beginning at 10 a.m.