Dear Chamber Members and Friends,

I wanted to write this week and let you all know that I have never been more proud of this community!  I grew up here and have always known that this is the best community. This week truly reinforced this to me. Our community came together in a huge way to not only take care of our own, but also to love and care for the people that had to leave their homes due to the hurricane.

Thank you all for what you did to help one another and to help those that were truly displaced. I want to specifically recognize Newton County; Cities of Covington, Oxford, Porterdale, Social Circle, Newborn and Mansfield; Newton County Schools; Georgia Power; Snapping Shoals EMC; AT&T; and Comcast.  These organizations have worked around the clock to restore services to our community and deserve a huge thank you for all that they have done and continue to do. We are fortunate to have such great partnerships between our City/County Governments, Utility Providers and School System. We have also had many member businesses donate services, food, and time to support these efforts. It was also great to see neighbors helping each other whether it be cleaning yards, cutting trees, or delivering meals.

I also want to thank all of our hotels in Covington/Newton County because they stepped up and made people feel as at home as possible. We also saw the compassion of our faith and business community as they reached out to the displaced evacuees staying with us. I had the privilege of spending time with people at the hotels this week and there was not a time when a meal wasn’t being delivered by a church or a local business just to show these people the hospitality that Covington/Newton County is known for. Many of these people have visited the welcome center here at the Chamber and have told us how thankful that they are for all of YOUR help.

Thank you for all that you did to pull together this week for each other, and for those that were most in need.

Sincerely,

Ralph Staffins

Covington/Newton Chamber