Life is so hectic, and it seems to go by so fast the older I get.
I remember that when I was a teenager, my mom told me I would know when I was getting old when it seemed like days and years just fly by and when I would start to read the obituary column first in the newspaper. Wouldn’t you know it? That is really true.
But while we still have time left, help us make a difference for our community this month by participating in our Rivers Alive community cleanups. In this extremely chaotic world of ours, it may seem hard to find time to give back. But our world needs people like you to give it a little bit of TLC (tender, loving care).
USA Weekend magazine created Make a Difference Day to engage local citizens. It is an annual event that takes place on the fourth Saturday of October. This year’s action day is Oct. 26. Each year, approximately 3 million people care enough about their communities to volunteer on or near that day and accomplish projects in thousands of communities. Anyone can participate by carrying out a volunteer project that helps others. Everyone can get involved.
There is a project out there that is perfect for you. A project could be collecting truckloads of clothing for the homeless or spending an afternoon helping an elderly neighbor or participating in a roadside or waterway cleanup in your community, like Rivers Alive. At Keep Liberty Beautiful, we hope you will choose helping our local waterways and wetlands. USA Weekend actually features volunteers and their projects in articles and photos. For more information, go to www.usaweekend.com.
Make a Difference Day is advertised as a “celebration of neighbors helping neighbors.” If people would go back to doing for neighbors in need and taking care of those less fortunate, we would need a lot less government intervention and spending.
What the world really needs is more of us caring and reaching out to make a difference for others and for our Earth — without being told, taxed or mandated to do so.  
Do you want to make a difference? Certainly, I hope that many folks will choose to help with our eighth annual Rivers Alive. Last year, more than 450 local citizens came out and made a difference in 40 locations in our county. I believe that what we do to our world, we are ultimately doing to ourselves. And that is truly a scary thought. We can make a positive difference for these incredibly vulnerable waterways around us.  
This year, we will spend the morning of Oct. 26 cleaning at least 40 locations near wetlands, creeks, streams, rivers and roadways where a lot of the litter occurs that is damaging to our waters.
Let’s not forget our ocean, too. We will have a beach cleanup on Nov. 9 at St. Catherines Island at the beach area on the north end of the island. We still need boaters and volunteers to help with that effort, too.
The mission of Rivers Alive is to create awareness of and involvement in the preservation of Georgia’s water resources, big and small. Rivers Alive targets cleanups across all waterways in the state, including creeks, streams, rivers, lakes, wetlands and the ocean. Rivers Alive is a statewide waterway cleanup effort sponsored by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources and Keep Georgia Beautiful, in collaboration with the international efforts of The Ocean Conservancy.
So, I again will ask you: Do you want to make a difference? Enough to share a few hours on a Saturday for our community? Call Keep Liberty Beautiful today at 880-4888 or email klcb@coastalnow.net to register for one of the numerous cleanup sites from Walthourville to Islands Highway. We provide the cleanup supplies and water for each location as well as official Rivers Alive T-shirts for the first 500 volunteers who register. Our generous sponsor, SNF Chemtall, will prepare a delicious cookout at Riceboro Creek after the cleanups for all of our volunteers who help on Oct. 26.   
Does Oct. 26 not work for you? Not a problem. We have several groups who have their cleanups on days in October that work for them and their fellow volunteers.
But if you don’t choose to help with Rivers Alive, consider volunteering on “Make a Difference Day” with one of the many worthy groups or churches in our community. Plan now to make a difference. Life happens fast. Don’t miss your chance to make the world a better place.
Now, excuse me while I go read the obituary column.
Save the Dates for these Fall KLB Events:  
•    Oct. 24 — PTP Luncheon with Walter Reeves, Georgia’s garden expert, at noon at the Liberty Performing Arts Center. Call 368-4445 to make a reservation.
• Call Keep Liberty Beautiful at 880-4888 or email klcb@coastalnow.net for more information, or go to  www.keeplibertybeautiful.org