Jefferson Matters: A Main Street and Chamber Community held its Community Appreciation event Tuesday night at the Greene County High School Auditorium.

The main highlight of the evening was the announcement of the 2022 Above and Beyond the Call (ABC) award winner, which went to Sam Harding. The ABC award is given to an individual or a couple who through their personal involvement, their leadership qualities and their unselfish giving of time and talent, have positively affected activities or accomplishments beneficial to the community at large. Harding talked about what this award meant to him.

“It’s such an honor that my community thought that much of me and the things I do that they wanted to honor me. I couldn’t be more proud of anything than that. I never intended to win an award by doing what I’ve done, I just did it because it was the right thing to do and it was the talents that God gave me. And I use them in a way He wanted me to. So I wanted to make sure all the time that I’ve been a faithful servant to Him and that’s the best thing that I could do.”       

The 2021 ABC recipient Sid Jones presented Harding the award and previous ABC winners including Jim North and Jacque Andrew also made remarks. 

Another highlight was that the Experience Jefferson website: experiencejeffersoniowa.com, won the “Outstanding Website” in the rural category from the Iowa Tourism Office, with Abby McConnell who spearheaded the creation of the website.

“We’re very excited and I thank the committee tremendously for all of the work that they put into that and the community. It was wonderful to work with everyone and see the passion that everyone has for Greene County as a whole. So to be able to create something that showcases that has truly been wonderful.” 

The first year for the new Forces Under 40 were recognized for their leadership and those included Bonnie Silbaugh, Tracy Deal and Philip Heisterkamp. Other topics that were shared included the Greene County Career Academy, Art on the Fly’s renovations with the Challenge Grant from Iowa Economic Development Authority, the Greene County Action Resource Center and the new Greene County Animal Shelter.