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Helena’s Kim Edwards has lived in Alabama for the past 21 years of her life, but she didn’t move to Helena until nine years ago. Originally from Weirton, West Virginia, Kim moved to Helena from Alabaster after falling in love with the city’s charm. She says it was all of the little things like Buck Creek running through the town, the single grade school and even the train tracks that made her feel like Helena was home.

Since moving here, Kim has become heavily involved in the community, volunteering for various events around town and becoming active in local churches. You may know her most prominently as the Chairwoman for Helena’s Beautification Board, where she has helped organize clean-up events, the Fall Pumpkin House, the Christmas tree lighting and the hanging baskets planting day in Old Town. Kim said she inherited her love of planting from her father, and her yard was even nominated for Yard of the Month through the Beautification Board.

When she isn’t volunteering, Kim says she loves to frequent the walking trail at Hillsboro, enjoy dinner at Beef ‘O’ Brady’s or The Depot, and she also loves to attend the various sports events at Helena High School, several of which her youngest child is involved in.

When asked to pick her favorite thing about Helena, she had a simple answer: all of the above. She says it’s the first town she’s lived in where she wanted to take active participation in watching and helping it grow.

“There’s that little spark in this town, and you can just sense that so many others feel it, too,” she says. “I’ve developed more friendships living my nine years in Helena than all of my 21 living in Alabama. I feel like I have a network of people here that I can call on if I have a problem or just if I want to get a bite to eat. You just don’t find that in every place I’ve lived. Helena has become home to me, and I’m incredibly grateful for it.”