The 2003 RC&D Christmas celebration and board meeting was held at the beautiful Nance Housing in Rutledge and was attended by over 40 people.

During the Christmas celebration, Board Chair David Lietzke presented long-time board member Marvin Hammond with a lifetime achievement award. Other award winnners were.

Volunteer of the Year: Anita Hopkins

Educator of the Year: Darla Leonard

Best Friend: Douglas Cherokee Technical Assistance Program.

Here is a picture from the Persia Woods groundbreaking ceremony. Congressman Jenkins is operating the backhoe.

In addtion to Congressman Jenkins, speakers at the event included RC&D Board member Nancy Barker(also pictured), Board Chair David Lietzke, RC&D Coordinator Lindy Turner and Cynthia DuRant and Eddie Terry with US Bank

Here is a picture of Thorn Hill's new fire truck. The truck was bought with funds awarded to the fire department through a FEMA Assistance to Fire Fighters grant. Out of 30,878 requests, Thorn Hill was one of 1,855 awarded grant money. The Enterprise Community provided a letters of support to a number of Fire Departments in the area, including Thorn Hill.

Here is a picture of the washburn barn from our "Not Barn Yesterday" project. The barn was designed and painted by students at Washburn School. A second barn was chosen in Hancock County to receive a similar face lift.

The EC Quality Commmunities committee recently held a dinner to introduce the Clinch-Powell Community Fund. This Fund is being developed, with help from the East Tennessee Foundation, to provide small grants to community organizations in our area after the Enterprise Community designation ends in 2009.

The dinner was held at the historic Nance House in Rutledge and was attended by a number of community leaders in our area.

The Appalachian Spring Cooperative hosted a luncheon for the Heifer Project Funders at the Clinch-Powell Kitchen in Hancock County in July. Here is a picture of the Funders in the ATEC computer center eating the homemade foods including the first crop of honey from the project.