The Town of Jasper, alongside Cleveland in Bradley County, are the first municipalities in Southeast Tennessee to receive T-Mobile grant funding in 2025. Jasper’s project request was entitled “Stay connected with family and friends” and to that end, they received over $38,000 for four solar panel phone charging benches. As an extensive of the library and in celebration of the library becoming a new department within the Town of Jasper, there is a bench permanently installed at the Carolyn Stewart Public Library, and the others are located in Courthouse Square. The benches were installed last week by the Public Works department.
Mayor Jason Turner expressed his pleasure at being able to provide this service to the community as well as extended his gratitude to T-Mobile. “As part of T-Mobile’s Hometown Grants, we are pleased to provide solar panel charging phone services to anyone and everyone that may need it. If you are outside and in Jasper, you will be able to charge your phone at any time.” The grant will enable people to stay connected. Ann Gray, Library Director at Carolyn Stewart Public Library added, “people frequently come to the public library seeking power to charge their cell phones -especially if they are from elsewhere. While we accommodate everyone as best we can, now there is an alternative solution. They can be outside and use the charging station benches whenever they need to charge their cell phones”. In addition, the solar charging bench’s visibility ties the library’s bench with the other benches that have been placed around Courthouse Square. This adds an innovative feature for the community, and the town hopes that anyone and everyone within Jasper will make use of them.