ACB contributes $1,500 to 'Partners in Service' Campaign

Back row: Barry Garrett, Loan Officer, ACB; Marty Godfrey, Executive Vice President, ACB. Front row: Becky Dyer, Marketing Director, ACB; Joe Garner, Superintendent, GMRE Center.

Appalachian Community Bank of Blairsville has committed $1,500 to the "Partners in Service" Campaign of the Community Council of the Georgia Mountain Research and Education Center. The announcement was made by Marty Godfrey, Executive Vice President of the Bank and a Vice Chairman of the Campaign. "On behalf of my associates at Appalachian Community Bank, we are pleased to support this effort which is important to our region. Barry Garrett and I were pleased to serve on the Campaign Steering Committee. We are pleased that the Council served 2,100 students during its 2005-06 year and 1,200 of them were from Union County."

Jason Karnes, President of the Bank, said, "The Bank's middle name is community by design as we are committed to serving our region in every way possible. So too is the Community Council. These friends are providing significant service to students and adults in the region through their educational enrichment programs and activities at the Georgia Mountain Research and Education Center. Such service is worthy of our support."

In receiving the gift, Lou Ann Bleakley of the Community Council said, "Our friends at Appalachian Community Bank have been partners with us since the Community Council was formed and their leadershiplevel support is helping the Council to expand its outreach to the region. We are grateful for the Bank's generous gift and for the leadership of Marty Godfrey and Barry Garrett in the campaign."

The "Partners in Service" Campaign is providing fourthyear funding for the work of the Community Council. The Council has three emphases of educational enrichment experiences for students from the region, outreach seminars for adults and significant preservation and conservation projects important to the mountain region, including the Plant Rescue Project. To date, over

50,000 has been committed in support of the $90,000 goal.

Appalachian Bancshares, Inc., based in Ellijay, Georgia, is the holding company of Appalachian Community Bank, a state-chartered bank organized under the laws of the State of Georgia. Appalachian Community Bank, which also operates in Gilmer County, Georgia, under the trade name of Gilmer County Bank, provides a full range of community banking services to individuals and to small and medium-sized businesses, through its eight full-service branches in North Georgia (Ellijay, East Ellijay, Blue Ridge, Blairsville, Chatsworth, Dawsonville and McCaysville), as well as through loan production offices in Murphy, North Carolina and Ducktown, Tennessee. The Company's common stock trades on the Nasdaq Global Market under the symbol APAB. For more information, please visit the Company's website at www.acbanks.net.