Dolly Reaves is a new hire at the Carter County Drug Prevention Coalition.

Reaves serves as the project coordinator at the organization.

“In this role I am going to be tasked with putting together a community assessment’s needs,” she said. “That means going out to all our community partners we work with and seeking out new ones, like medical and nonprofits, and assessing what we need right now. Based on those responses and what we are already doing, we will develop new ideas, new efforts to put in place and reevaluate how those efforts have impacted our community.”

The North Carolina native says that while she is not from this area, she is from rural Appalachia and understands what it is like to be from a small town.

“Although I am from the North Carolina side, I am a resident of rural Appalachia, and my heart has been with rural communities for as long as I can remember,” said Reaves.

Reaves said she is excited for her upcoming work with the coalition, and notes her passion stems from her own experiences.

“A desire to serve communities is very personal to me,” she said. “I am a survivor of domestic abuse and I have been a homeless single mom. Having been vulnerable and looked down on by society really gives me a drive to serve anybody who may be in a vulnerable situation.”

Reaves said her passion in this new position is connecting with people.

“I love the fact that in our business anybody can just walk in with any need or desire to help and we plug them in,” she said. ”I love our open arms approach. That’s a personal passion I have towards people. I love being able to meet people who have been doing this work and learn from them and meeting community leaders to make connections.”

Reaves said she is excited to learn more in this job and also feels that she has a lot to bring to the table as well. She has previously worked in various roles in North Carolina that involved working with people in the community and also nonprofits, such as serving as a breastfeeding peer counselor.

While Reaves is not an Elizabethton resident, she commutes 45 minutes to and from her home in North Carolina and said she loves her job.

“I’m grateful to be part of this community and spend my days getting to know everyone here and getting more involved,” she said. “People will ask if I’m from around here, and I say we can’t choose where we’re from, but we can choose the people we love and the people we care about. I choose to care about all people.”