BY KADIE VICK
THE LAFAYETTE SUN
LAFAYETTE — Haywood Forest Products broke ground on Friday, June 13, and celebrated the support of the community and local officials.
“This is not just to celebrate us and our ability to build a mill,” said CEO of Haywood Forest Products, Chris Rose. “We’re celebrating us as a community where we come together and we all agree on one thing, that we all might be blessed. We’re putting our seeds in the ground, and that’s kind of how I envision it. So I want to celebrate these ceremonial steps to forge friendships, partnerships and community.”
The Rose family is thankful for the opportunity to support the community through creating jobs and industry, and has enjoyed seeing their faith guide them through the process to break ground for Haywood Forest Products.
“I can only say that this journey has closed a lot of doors and opened others, and it’s all been because of our God and Father,” said Beth Rose. “I’m looking forward to this being a blessing to the community, and I’m also looking forward to it being a ministry and outreach, and I’m thankful for how things have come together.”
Haywood Forest Products is a reflection of the industry in Chambers County and is a representation of the need to celebrate growth in LaFayette.
“One of the unique things about this is that it taps into what I think we all know is our biggest industry in Chambers County, and that’s the agriculture and forestry community,” said the Executive Director of Chambers County, Chris Busby. “Yes, this is going to provide direct jobs and direct opportunities locally, but it’s going to have a broader impact across the board, for all our loggers and foresters.”
Through creating this beneficial company, the Rose family is creating a lasting impact on locals and is pouring into their community in a permanent way.
“To see a new company coming to LaFayette that will bring jobs and opportunities for our citizens is really special to me, and I just can’t tell you how appreciative I am to Chris and Beth Rose for this opportunity. So I do want to thank them for the commitment to Chambers County they have had from day one, it has been a pleasure to work with them,” Busby said.
The Haywood Forest Products namesake is from Beth’s father, Glenn Bracewell Haywood. Chris Rose said he is honored to represent his father-in-law and his family through this company, and the impact of the wisdom of the forestry community.
“I gained the father that you might say I never really had; the only thing I had to do to learn from him was to be still and listen, and the wisdom would just flow,” Chris said. “Old foresters have a way of teaching you the way things should be. So that’s why Haywood Forest Products is where it’s at, and I hope we bring it to a long, long tradition of honoring Glenn Bracewell Haywood and honoring our family.”
To conclude the groundbreaking ceremony, Chris Rose prayed over Haywood Forest Products and the safety of their employees.
“Father, cover the loggers with your angels of protection, for they have a dangerous job. Father, bring our drivers home daily without delay. So with this, I proclaim this blessing that we celebrate this groundbreaking with the digging of soil,” he prayed.
