At a recent Positively! Jacksonville meeting, Kathleen Stanfill asked everyone to name their favorite thing about Jacksonville. My first and immediate response, without even thinking about it, was “The people!” In fact, this was the overwhelming favorite of the whole group.
Jacksonville is very fortunate that its citizens are so caring and community minded. When I first moved here, the planning for “Goals for Jacksonville” had just ended. A group of citizens is currently working on “2020.” The Hispanic group “P.L.A.N.” was organized to help its citizens. Citizens are always searching to make Jacksonville a better place to live, not satisfied to remain still or begin to stagnant.
Before I actually moved here, I was told the story about the group of men that had gone out and recruited businesses to come to Jacksonville. The pro-activeness of this group was amazing. These men cared; they knew jobs were the backbone of the community. I was impressed at the number of high school graduates that were making more than minimum wage in manufacturing jobs.
Also, the volunteerism in this community is awesome. There are people that, when they see a need, they don’t say, “Someone else should really do something about that!” They take it upon themselves to form a group and tackle the problem. This is how H.O.P.E., Klein Animal Shelter, Keep Jacksonville Beautiful, etc. were born. Concerned citizens didn’t wait for the government or any other entity to take care of the problem; they rolled up their sleeves and went to work.
Jacksonville has a very active Chamber of Commerce. The staff, led by Peggy Renfro, works very hard to improve the quality of life for its citizens. The Board of Directors and a large group of volunteers give up their time to plan activities, not only for the citizens but for tourist that will come into town and spend money. This, in turn, helps the merchants. Day in and day out, the staff works to promote Jacksonville.
The Jacksonville Economic Development Board, led by Darrell Prcin, works diligently trying to retain jobs and bring additional jobs to Jacksonville.
The board members of these two groups are not paid; this is strictly volunteer work. They give up time from their jobs and home life to work to make Jacksonville a better place to live.
Every one of us can give back to Jacksonville so that it will be a wonderful place to live and leave it even better for the generations to come! What are YOU doing to make Jacksonville a better place to live?
Nancy Washburn is operations officer at Austin Bank and volunteers her time with the Jacksonville Public Library Board and the Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce.
