Jefferson Matters: A Main Street and Chamber Community has a new hire.

Molly Cunningham is the new tourism and events coordinator. The Jefferson native graduated from Greene County High School in 2015 and also earned a bachelor’s degree in event management from Iowa State University. She previously worked at a winery in Cambridge for events and then learned about the open position with Jefferson Matters.

Cunningham explains her husband and 13-month-old son felt like it was time to move back to their hometown.

“We have kind of gotten to the point where we really miss our family. It’s important for me to have my son Jack to be able to be with his grandparents, and his aunts, and his uncles, and his family. And I feel like we’ve been kind of isolated, like, ‘Okay it’s just the three of us, what do we do now?’ So we really wanted to get back to family.”

Jefferson Matters Executive Director Matt Wetrich is excited to have Cunningham working with him.

“It’s another great example of a young family moving back to A: family is a great draw, as you heard Molly say, so that’s always helpful, but being able to have a job that worked for her. But also it’s like this is a community that young people are wanting to come back. And I should also mention that we’re really fortunate to have Beth Vander Wilt coming in and working some with this and also volunteering. We’re a full team and we’re really excited to see where 2023 is going to go for us.”    

Wetrich invites everyone to come into the Welcome Center and meet Cunningham who started earlier this month.