Many people serve, but few have served so much of their life.

The first Lawrence County Veteran of the Year, Matthew Jenkins, not only served in the U.S. Army from 2005-2010 and in the National Guard from 2011-2016, he has continued to serve our community.

The Chesapeake native is the assistant chief of the Aid Township Volunteer Fire Department and spends time working with the junior firefighters and teaching fire safety at local schools. He is also vice president of the Lawrence County Fireman’s Association and serves as chaplain and on the honor guard for the Symmes Valley Veterans, VFW and is an advisor for the Arabia All-Stars 4-H Club.

Any one of those things requires a lot of work and time, yet, he does them.

And he has remained humble about it. When he accepted his award on Wednesday night, he gave no speech.

Instead, he thanked the veterans in the room for their service and then thanked those who will serve in the military in the future.

So we thank Jenkins for all his has done for his country and his community and all that he will do for it in the future.

Thank you, sir.