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Rivers Alive is 'alive and strong' in Liberty County
Rivers Alive FRONT

Rivers Alive, Georgia’s Annual Waterway Cleanup, was alive and strong in Liberty County last Saturday. October 27th also happened to be Make a Difference Day nationally. Rivers Alive is Georgia’s annual volunteer waterway cleanup event that targets all waterways in the State including streams, rivers, lakes, beaches and wetlands. 

Throughout the month of October, the local Keep America Beautiful affiliate, Keep Liberty Beautiful, has focused on encouraging groups around the county to host cleanups to help local waterways stay clean. 

On Saturday, Keep Liberty Beautiful had about 343 volunteers spread around the county conducting cleanups from one end to the other. 

According to event organizer, Karen Bell, “There are so many people and groups to thank for the great turnout that we had that helped cleanup our local waterways.”

The mission of Rivers Alive is to create awareness of and involvement in the preservation of Georgia’s water resources. Rivers Alive is held annually each fall and is a program of the Georgia Environmental Protection Division Outreach Program.

Georgia’s 70,150 miles of streams and rivers are always in need of help. These waterways provide us with fresh drinking water, great recreational opportunities like kayaking and fishing, providing a respite from busy day to day lives. Rivers Alive is an opportunity to help protect some of the nation’s most precious resources: rivers, streams, lakes and wetlands.

Volunteers come from all walks of life, non-profit organizations, corporations, community and civic groups, school groups, faith-based groups, individuals, governmental agencies and others.

SNF generously hosted a picnic lunch with hamburgers and hotdogs for the volunteers, feeding 150-plus people this past Saturday. 

There were also seven Adopt Liberty groups that hosted individual cleanups, making sure fellow roadways and neighborhoods were clean and green. 

The idea of a river cleanup event was conceived in the early 1990’s by a former Department of Natural Resources board member, with the first cleanup being organized by the DNR Wildlife Division in 1992. In 1993, organization of the cleanup was divided among the various divisions within DNR: Wildlife Resources, Environmental Protection, Coastal and Water Resources.

In 1999, the various cleanup organizations throughout the state unified for the first time to form Rivers Alive. The thought was that there would be advantages to forming a single, unified cleanup up, the primary advantage being the solicitation of private donations from corporations to support cleanup organizers and volunteers.

Keep Liberty Beautiful, a nationally award winning program, works daily to educate the community on the benefits of recycling and waste reduction, as well as helping organize cleanups and other outreach projects. 

To get involved, email karen.bell@libertycountyga.com or call 912-880-4888.


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