Clinton Volunteer of the Year has eclectic talents

Jessica Crabtree shows off a specialty coffee drink that she made at Rock-N-Java in Clinton. Crabtree, 27, was honored as the Volunteer of the Year by the Clinton Chamber of Commerce on March 7. She is involved with the Clinton Hunger Run, which is a race to raise money for two 
Van Buren County food banks.
Jessica Crabtree shows off a specialty coffee drink that she made at Rock-N-Java in Clinton. Crabtree, 27, was honored as the Volunteer of the Year by the Clinton Chamber of Commerce on March 7. She is involved with the Clinton Hunger Run, which is a race to raise money for two Van Buren County food banks.

CLINTON — Jessica Crabtree calls herself a Yankee, but she’s definitely involved in her Southern community.

Crabtree, 27, was named Volunteer of the Year by the Clinton Chamber of Commerce on March 7 at its awards banquet.

“I didn’t know anything about it; it was a total surprise to me,” she said.

Her main volunteer activity is with the Clinton Hunger Run, a 5K to raise money for two Van Buren County food banks. The run was scheduled for yesterday.

“That’s a lot of work, and I have an awesome team. Meagin [Warren, the race director] — she’s a really dear friend, and there are just amazing people. That’s been my biggest volunteer involvement. This is our fifth year now; we’ve beat our record every single year,” Crabtree said.

Crabtree started volunteering by creating the race website and has been treasurer for the event. This year, she’s part of the team that makes the race happen.

“A lot of people I know work with 10 different nonprofit groups and have a regimen of meetings they go to. I don’t have an itinerary like that; I’m just diving in at random places,” she said.

Crabtree has lived in Clinton for just 13 years, but that’s the longest she’s lived anywhere, she said.

Her father, John, still lives in Clinton, and her mother, Ruth, died three years ago. Crabtree also has two brothers. She said her family moved around for a variety of reasons.

She was born in York, Pennsylvania, and her family lived in Philadelphia, near New Jersey, before moving to Arkansas. Her family first lived in Maumelle, then moved to Clinton to experience the slower pace of life.

Clinton was a definite culture shock, she said.

“It felt really rural, and the culture was really different in general. We lived up in the hills, about a 20-minute drive out,” she said. “We weren’t used to people waving.”

Her father started a computer business when they moved there.

“He does the hardware, the server setup. I sort of apprenticed or shadowed under him. That’s how I got started with my job,” she said.

She has ECT Web Designs, and she designs websites on a freelance basis. “I had sort of a creative flair for it,” she said.

Crabtree has a contract with the city and works mainly for mom-and-pop businesses and, from time to time, startup companies. She built the city’s new website, clintonark.com.

Jason Hayes, executive director of the Clinton Chamber of Commerce, said he’s impressed with Crabtree’s skills.

“Whenever I ask her to do something for our website, she comes back with what I asked for — and four things I didn’t even know were possible,”

he said.

She created a combined website on behalf of the region — an umbrella for several entities — Clintonvbc.com, often referred to as “the hub,” she said. Crabtree created “the hub” to share information with visitors and residents.

“We’re trying to kick-start a community calendar,” she said. “The hub is like a branded web page; it represents the region — the city, local businesses and the county in general.”

Crabtree said it was “like an experiment” at first. “That’s really taken off,” she said. “It’s still in the growth stage.”

She is responsible for updating the website, and she said it’s a perfect place for new residents to see what’s going on.

“One of the big projects is to collaborate with schools,” she said.

Crabtree said the annual Halloween festival, sponsored by the city’s fire department, was one of her projects. “I can dive in and say, ‘You guys don’t have anyone help you.’”

She spearheaded an online campaign, created graphics, issued a press release and fliers, and the schools sent the fliers home with students. The festival was a huge success, she said.

“You can connect a lot of different groups to get the word out,” she said.

“Clinton is a more tourist-oriented economy. It’s so good to have that [calendar], … and if it’s attractive and up to date, then automatically, you’re taking care of local people, too.”

Crabtree can be found working on her websites — or behind the counter — at Rock-N-Java in Clinton. She discovered the coffee shop about two years ago and fell in love with it.

“Real coffee shops are few and far between in the South,” she said.

A friend of hers, Shawn Henderson, opened the business. He died in December.

“I love the environment of this place he created,” she said. “I love coffee, and the coffee shop vibe and the

conversation.”

She said it was “just a fluke” that she ended up on the other side of the counter.

“The fluke was I was never intending to look for another job; they got really, really shorthanded at one point. They were in a pinch.”

Crabtree said she works there part time as a barista and an interim manager.

“Rock-N-Java is like my home, unofficially; I’ve done so much of my computer work there. It’s extended family,”

she said.

She also works part time at Faye’s Diamond Mine for mother-daughter duo Faye Rodgers and Lori Blagg.

“They’re power women, and they’re really awesome,” Crabtree said.

Crabtree said the relationships she’s made in Clinton through her volunteering and business dealings mean the most.

“You see how many hours you have in the day and pick what’s more important. … It seems like when you’re a busy person, you always get more on your plate than you’re expecting,” she said. “You focus on what needs to be done; you know it instinctively and get it done. Spending time with someone who matters makes everything else invisible. Five years from now, maybe the job matters, maybe it doesn’t, but it’s the people that you’re connected with,” she said.

Crabtree said she wants to continue to develop her freelance business, as well as travel and explore more.

A team from BBC World News was in Clinton in late February and early March doing a segment called “Forgotten America.”

Some of the interviews are available to watch on clintonark.com, she said.

“I was fortunate to act as a tour guide,” she said. “They camped out at Exxon just talking to people,” she said. The reporters also interviewed Dan and Peggy Eoff about the annual chuckwagon races and other residents.

“That was a huge experience. I helped [the reporters] understand what it was like as an outsider,” as well as a resident, in a small town in the South.

Not that she’s a Southerner, though.

“Nobody will ever catch me saying ‘y’all,’” she said with a laugh.

Senior writer Tammy Keith can be reached at (501) 327-0370 or tkeith@arkansasonline.com.

Upcoming Events