Community service is such an integral part of 4-H. Both our Honor Club and All Stars group are designed to promote community service, and all of our clubs participate in service projects. They range from sending cards to those that are homebound or at Willow Ridge, to serving a meal for the veterans of Union County, to removing non-native invasive plants at Big Ridge State Park—a real variety!

Excitement filled the air at the plaza of the UT Alumni Memorial Hall on May 16 as 4-H Clover Bowl teams from all over East Tennessee gathered. Teams of four or five 4-H members and their parents chatted, snacked and quizzed each other while waiting for the competition to begin.

At the 2024 Division 1, Class A, District 2 Tennis Tournament, the Union County High School Tennis Team received All-District Awards in Doubles Play. Ava Tiller & Travyn Farmer in Girls Doubles, and Dalton Schreieck & Jace Walker in Boys Doubles, were recognized for their competitive spirit, good sportsmanship, and winning record.

The Union County Business & Professional Association awarded a total of 10 scholarships for 2024. UCBPA annually awards the Tracy Jeffreys Memorial Academic Scholarship to honor extensive commitment to educational achievement, mentoring of youth and professional ethics, as well as the tremendous amount of service that Marvin and Doris Jeffreys have given to Union County. The scholarship also memorializes Tracy, their deceased daughter.

It was a few months before the baby’s due date. We were all so anxious since we had to wait. Sara and Jordan already knew what was real, while everybody else had to wait on the reveal. For team girl or team boy, we all wore buttons. Some were adults and others were “youngins.” Out of a box of balloons, Sara and Jordan pulled out a fish. It wasn’t a real one, but a toy one that you could squish. As they yanked up the blue fish, poppers were set off by each papaw. The crowd cheered: “It’s a boy!” after the blue they all saw. In October, we should have sweet little Maverick Jace.

As the temperatures soar and the days lengthen the Union County Public Libraries are launching their annual Summer Reading Program. This summer we are hoping to get kids and adults alike to share with us the joy that reading can bring.

The City of Plainview awarded two scholarships at the regular meeting on May 14, 2024. Both recipients graduated as valedictorians with a perfect 4.0 grade point average. Annabelle Schwartz intends to study first at Walter State Community College and then to complete her degree in Aeronautical Engineering at the University of Tennessee Knoxville. Anthony Baker will attend Lincoln Memorial University to receive a Bachelor of Science in Nursing, which is an undergraduate focus for becoming a Pharmacist.

The volunteers of the Union County Lions Club would like to thank the Alder Springs Baptist Church, Irwin Chapel UMC, Cooke-Campbell Mortuary, Foxy Wraps, HMI Highway Markings and Union County Food City for their support of the Lion’s fundraising Freedom Concert with the Poet Voices
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The concert banner designed and donated by Foxy Wraps was fantastic. We appreciate the donation of supplies from Food City.

With support from the National Institute on Aging, part of the National Institute of Health, Gregory Hicks recently led a clinical trial with researchers at UD, Duke University and the University of Pittsburgh to test new ways of treating chronic low back pain in adults 60 to 85 years old. The study, called the Manual Therapy and Strengthening the Hip (MASH) Trial, is believed by the research team to be the first clinical trial to assess the efficacy of an intervention matched to an at-risk subgroup of older adults with chronic low back pain and coexisting hip pain and muscle weakness.

In 2 Corinthians: 8-9, Paul is exhorting the Corinthians to fulfill their pledge to contribute towards a love offering being taken up among the gentile churches for the poor saints at Jerusalem. You can read the details about Paul’s instructions to the church at Corinth for this offering in 1 Corinthians 16: 1-9. You can also read in Acts 11:28 about how a prophet named Agabus by the Spirit foretold this famine before it happened.