Changing of the Guard
by Maryann Miller

After a year and a half of serving as secretary/administrator "slash gopher" for the Chamber of Commerce, Karen Sparks is resigning to take another job. She will be working at Retirement Consulting Group as a receptionist and bookkeeper. "I went to college for accounting," she said. "So numbers are my forte, and I'm looking forward to a job where I can utilize those skills."

Karen has done a wonderful job for the Chamber and members let her know how much they appreciated her at a farewell luncheon on Thursday, July 24.

While she is looking forward to a new job with new challenges, "and benefits," she says she will miss many things about working at the Chamber. "Most of all I'll miss the people. It was always so nice to see new faces come through the door. People who may be interested in moving here or doing business here.

"It was also fun to share in someone's vacation. I met so many nice people from Texas, the United States, and all over the world, coming to wee little Winnsboro. During the time I was here there were folks from New Zealand, Germany, Africa and Holland."

Rowena Alsobrook is taking over responsibilities in the Chamber office. Her previous job was volunteer coordinator for Cypress Basin Hospice and she is looking forward to creating a city-wide volunteer resource on the Internet. "Someone will be able to look on the website and see an activity or organization that they might be interested in," she said. "Then they can contact the organization and make arrangements to help out.

"It's no fun to volunteer for something you don't like to do," she continued. "So this will give them a list of things to choose from.

Rowena plans to get this website active soon and encourages people to contact her at the Chamber office (903-342-3666) to list volunteer opportunities.

In addition to the normal secretarial and administrative duties, Rowena has been asked to help promote the Chamber and recruit new members. To do that, she will spend time out of the office and will need volunteers to handle the reception desk in two-hour increments. Anyone interested in that volunteer opportunity can contact her at the Chamber office.

Rowena currently lives in Mt. Pleasant but is looking forward to moving here. "We've actually wanted to come to this area for over a year," she said. "Long before this job even came up. And I'm really looking forward to living and working here."