Three prominent community organizations delivered a snapshot of how they touch local lives during presentations at this week’s Board of Aldermen meeting.

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The first to deliver an annual report for 2025 and budget request for 2026 was Chamber of Commerce President Chris Comer.

She began by citing the “very far reach” of the chamber’s social media presence, improved by recent growth in followers across platforms. Membership retention stands at 87% and more than 200 chamber-linked volunteers contributed nearly 3,000 combined hours of work in the community last year. 

Despite rain, Comer said last year’s Spring Folly drew 36,700 attendees. Halloween festivities brought 5,100 people to Downtown Kernersville over the course of just two hours. And the Christmas parade attracted 6,500 spectators.

“We just really couldn’t do it without all of you,” she told town officials, thanking partners in the community and announcing plans to participate in upcoming Kernersville 155/America 250 anniversary celebrations. 

Next up, the Shepherd’s Center of Kernersville provided an account of what Executive Director Asheley Cooper called a “really exciting year.”

She told the board that the nonprofit served 4,581 older adults in 2025, a particularly notable figure for a town with only about 4,700 residents age 65 or older. Among the other statistics she presented were a 17% increase in senior center engagement and a 45% jump in home-based services like transportation and pharmacy pickups.

“We know that we’re making an impact in our community,” Cooper said.

The Shepherd’s Center also unveiled a new initiative, The Rest Stop, which is described as a caregiver respite program the organization is launching in partnership with Sedge Garden United Methodist Church.

“When you’re taking a road trip, which is what caregiving is, you just kind of get off the road and take a breath,” Cooper said of the program. “That’s what we’re going to be providing.”

Finally, Crisis Control Ministry highlighted recent growth in the context of nearly five decades of service in Kernersville. Director Kathy Hoffner reported that the local office assisted more than 3,300 individuals and distributed more than $811,000 in housing, food, utilities, and medical support in the 2024 fiscal year.

“It’s community that happens under our roof,” she said. “It’s not a situation of them and us; it’s we.”

Quoting author C.S. Lewis, Hoffner described the organization’s philosophy as “building community with humility — not thinking less of yourself, but thinking more of someone else.”

Mayor Dawn Morgan indicated that other community organizations will provide their annual reports and budget requests at upcoming meetings.

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