A small group of mostly African American residents from Columbia County gathered in the sanctuary of the Mount Pleasant Baptist Church in Grovetown over the weekend to help organize a new chapter of the NAACP, which bills itself as “the Nation’s Premiere Civil Rights Organization.”

Rev. Melvin Ivey is president of the Augusta Chapter. He said that with Columbia County experiencing rapid growth, a chapter there will help minority residents just moving in have a more cohesive community, which is vital to securing educational, social and economic “equality of rights.”

Working through local churches, organizers plan to recruit 100 charter members by the end of June.

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