Ashley McCarty, former reporter for The People’s Defender and The Ledger Independent, is the newly hired Adams County Community Coordinator. (
“She’s here to help”
WEST UNION, Ohio — Ashley McCarty, former reporter for The People’s Defender, is the newly hired Adams County Community Coordinator, and she is ready to roll!
Veronica Grooms, Adams County Court Administrator, says, “We want the community, whether they’re affiliated with an organization, to know Ashley’s name and number so they will call her if they need something.”
When McCarty decided to leave the Defender, she wanted a month’s respite. She had loads of job opportunities. She said, “My cup was running over, but nothing felt right.” Then, Common Please Court Judge Brett Spencer phoned. McCarty relates, “We’d had built up this beautiful friendship when I was working with the Defender.” Spencer wanted to run an idea by Ashley and told her, “You don’t have to answer now, but you know we’ve been looking for a Community Coordinator.” McCarty was not only aware of the search but remembered that when the position was mentioned at a community meeting, her heart leaped, and she secretly wished, “Pick me.” She states, “It was so serendipitous how he called me.”
Spencer reiterated, “You don’t have to answer me now – think it over. Call me back and let me know what you think.” McCarty says, “I didn’t have to think about it. I’ve built this relationship with these people already, and they’re good people. It’s such a great environment, so it was a no-brainer. I texted him back 15 minutes later and said, ‘Yes – absolutely – let’s talk about it.’” Once McCarty met with a small group of community agency reps, and they mapped out her responsibilities, she said, “I wanted to grab it by the horns and just go.” On March 3, she was sworn in for her new position as Adams County Community Coordinator.
McCarty is a nucleus of information and services. It’s a county-wide position of being both a liaison for agencies in the community and a liaison for community individuals. She explains, “I connect individuals with agencies to provide the services, whatever that might be. I’m also a communication hub. I will go to meetings like Operation Better Together, the Drug Coalition, or other organizational meetings relative to the community.” McCarty shares minutes from the meetings and creates a newsletter for the general public. She states, “The skills that I developed working at the paper have definitely helped me, especially with reporting.”
McCarty is a self-taught artist who shares her time and talents teaching at the Adams County Christian School and volunteering at the Children’s Home. She explains, “I’m self-taught in art and writing. Around the same time I started writing, I started sketching, and sketching turned into painting.”
She is also an avid Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings fan. McCarty is an advocate for all living creatures and sits on the board of the Humane Society.
McCarty mentions her faith more than once in the conversation. She shares, “I’m 30 now, and it took until I was 29 to finally realize the truth. My life was chaotic before I became a Christian, and then after I became a Christian, everything just flowed so much better. God has moved so powerfully since I’ve become a Christian. My life was so directionless, and it was like I was a seed floating in the wind waiting to find ground somewhere. When I became a Christian, I started to grow roots, and these roots have grown out, and they’ve led me to make connections.”
Besides the opportunity to connect and aid others, McCarty loves that this job offers her structure and the ability to go home at night and relax. The position makes room for her teaching and volunteering positions, allowing her the flexibility to continue sharing her gifts. She describes working with her new team as a joy. McCarty expresses, “I want to be effective in the community. I want to reach people. That’s why I’m here.”
Mr. Rogers,’ “Look for the helpers” comes to mind. Ashley McCarty is a helper. She says, “I just have a passion for helping everybody, and that’s what is so perfect about this role. I can do what I love to do and help people communicate and have relationships with people.”
Ashley McCarty may be reached at (937) 971-3317 or by email at [email protected].
