Liberty County is our home. Just as we take care of the homes we live in with our families, we need to take care of our community. Keep Liberty Beautiful sincerely appreciates the nearly 4,000 volunteers each year who help to make our county cleaner and more attractive through neighborhood projects and area litter cleanups, but those who are interested in going to the next level should consider “adopting” Liberty.
Adopt Liberty is a community-appearance program sponsored by Keep Liberty Beautiful in conjunction with local municipal governments. The Adopt Liberty Program serves as an umbrella for several “adopting” possibilities in our county and cities. The idea is to create public interest and support for local roads and bodies of water as well as public spaces, such as walking trails, green spaces, parks and neighborhoods.
I think we all seem to take better care of things when we assume ownership of them. I rented apartments in my 20s, and my husband and I have owned homes since we got married. I find I am much more conscientious about the care and maintenance of these permanent living spaces because they are ours. It actually seems to be the same for communities, roads, streets and neighborhoods. When we take ownership of public areas, surprisingly, everyone seems to respect those areas and treat them better. Adopted roads tend to stay cleaner and litter-free.
This program promotes public involvement in the maintenance and/or improvement of adopted areas. The purpose is to care for and enhance public areas by allowing the community to assume some personal interest and responsibility.
We have over 40 areas adopted in Liberty County. A variety of groups and individuals already have “adopted,” and we encourages others — individuals, families, neighborhood groups, civic organizations, youth groups, school groups, church groups and businesses — to get involved.
A few areas have been adopted in memory and in honor of loved ones. People adopt locations for many reasons. City of Hinesville Public-Relations Manager Krystal Hart and her family recently got involved.
“The Greene family decided to become an Adopt Liberty group because we wanted to become more involved in the community as a family. We are a close-knit family that gets together at least monthly so we decided to give back and set a good example for the younger ones in our family. Instead of getting together for food and fun, we now get together for community service and fun, too! We chose Tradehill Road because it is significant to us. My grandparents have lived there for nearly 60 years and most of our family lives on that road or in the Sunbury community,” Hart said.
The program’s simple; here’s how it works. We ask you:
• to commit for a minimum of a year.
• to have a cleanup at least once a quarter.
• to submit basic information on each cleanup — date of cleanup, number of hours, how many volunteers, how many bags collected and any other debris collected. This information can be called in to 880-4888, emailed to klcb@coastalnow.net, mailed to P.O. Box 889, Midway, GA 31320 or texted to 610-3968.
• to let us know a week ahead of time if you need any supplies. We can provide safety vests, garbage bags, work gloves, water and litter-pickup tools for your volunteers. With adequate notice, we also can arrange for pickup of large debris and the collected garbage.
Keep Liberty Beautiful will print road signs and have them installed in your area — with your approval — designating your adopted spot or road location.
Put these KLB events on your calendar now:
• Through Feb. 15: Phonebook-recycling collection
• Feb. 20- 21: Arbor Day tree giveaways
• Feb. 21: Recycle It! Fair and Great American Cleanup 2015 citywide cleanups
• March 7: Midway cleanup day
• March 14: Walthourville and Allenhurst cleanup days
• March 21: East End and Riceboro cleanup days
• March 28: Gum Branch cleanup day
• April 25: Hinesville Citywide cleanup day
• April 22: Ninth annual Earth Day celebration