Keep Liberty Beautiful Director Sara Swida was named Organizer of the Year during the Rivers Alive awards ceremony held April 20 at Callanwolde Fine Arts Center in Atlanta.

Volunteers and stream cleanup organizers from across the state met in Atlanta to celebrate the accomplishments of the state’s largest volunteer cleanup program, Rivers Alive.  

The Rivers Alive awards honor the efforts of individuals and groups who are working to improve Georgia’s waterways, one trash bag at a time. Volunteers wade into rivers, lakes and coastal waters each year as part of the continuing statewide campaign to clean and preserve more than 70,000 miles of Georgia waterways.

During the 2015 cleanup, 25,290 volunteers cleaned more than 2,542 miles of waterways and removed more than 549,000 pounds of trash and recyclables, including car parts, cigarettes, toilets, vacuum cleaners, TVs, sinks, fishing line, tires, and plastic bottles.

Rivers Alive is a program of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources’ Environmental Protection Division.