Story originally published in The Sylva Herald, April 16 edition
Sylva First United Methodist Church hosted a community roundtable on Monday, April 7, with the goal of uniting Jackson County’s nonprofit organizations and churches. Representatives from 10 organizations were present and shared the resources they each offer to support county residents.
Rev. Karen Doucette, senior pastor of the host church, led the event. Doucette split the group in half, with one half focused on religious organizations and the other on nonprofits.
The religious group came up with a list of churches and divided them up to call with two questions: would the church be willing to be put on a list for people to call when needed, and what they could offer Jackson County residents.
The nonprofit group discussed different organizations in the area, as well as services the individuals knew of, and how they could help.
The groups shared their findings and discussed next steps. The group determined they would begin calling churches and reaching out to nonprofits. The information collected will be used to compile a list of resources within Jackson County.
“We were able to figure out maybe which churches were still operating and come up with a good list. We split it up between the seven of us, and we each have people to call, and in that we were thinking if we can get a couple point people working … to designate and organize which church will do what, and then just continue down the list,” said Doucette about the religious group’s results.
The next full meeting is on June 2, but a smaller group from the roundtable will meet sooner to keep up the momentum.
