May is a very hard time for me.

We have our volunteer appreciation for Keep Liberty Beautiful each May. This year, it is from 5-7 p.m. Thursday at South Georgia Bank, 737 S. Main St. in Hinesville, as part of a Liberty County Chamber of Commerce Business After Hours event. That is not the hard part. South Georgia Bank is graciously co-sponsoring the event, and the chamber staff is always so helpful with putting this event together. I never find an evening of food, fun and music and people you enjoy a hardship. Who would?

Unfortunately, we give out awards each year to some of our hardest-working volunteers, and narrowing those volunteers down to a few is the hardest thing I do all year. We had about 4,000 volunteers this year and 190 volunteer partners, including churches, businesses, civic and community organizations, youth groups and schools. I would give every volunteer an award if we could.

We are lucky at KLB because we have so many outstanding volunteer groups and individuals. It gives me a headache just trying to narrow them down. Volunteers come in many shapes and sizes and with vastly different skill sets so they can answer so many different needs in our community. That is great for us because at KLB, we have some very specific work areas that can require different talents and interests to accomplish our goals. We also have a pretty large county with many needs. Thank goodness for volunteers!

We have volunteers who help with educational programs and some who help design our marketing tools. We have some who faithfully help with litter cleanups, while others provide their boats to make beach cleanups at St. Catherines Island possible. We have some who can paint, while others can tell stories. We have some who can grow flowers and plants and design pretty places for everyone to enjoy. We have some who live and breathe recycling and work diligently to recycle everything they can and create opportunities for everyone else to recycle, too. We have some who care deeply about protecting our local waterways and some who just bring a lot of fun to every event they participate in. Charm Reed, I am talking about you!

And we have some volunteers who can do it all and do it willingly because they love Liberty County.
We also have our dedicated advisory-board members who give countless hours every year to manage and implement KLB activities from litter and water cleanups to recycling events, and garden projects to public-awareness programs.

These are some of our hardest-working volunteers of all: Karen Bell, Margaret Bess, Kasey Bozeman, Brigitte Cabeza-Shanken, Willie Cato, Daniel Clark, Lynette Cook-Osbourne, Ernest Davis, Mike Davis, Rodney Edwards, Evanne Floyd, Lillian Gray, Krystal Hart, Kim McGlothlin, Kathy Poole, Leah Poole, Charmette Reed, Jaime Rearley, Michelle Ricketson, David C Sapp, Amanda Scott, B.J. Strickland, Terri Willett, Roosevelt Motley, David Duke, Joy Kennedy and Clenton Wells. These citizens are the heart of KLB.

Can you see why it is so hard to narrow these awards down?

I hope you can join us Thursday, even if you only have a few minutes. I know our volunteers will appreciate it. If you volunteered with a group during the year, please plan to come. We do this for you. It may be a small thing, but it is our way of saying “thank you” for the priceless gift you give us each year — your time.

The event is a drop-in event and, of course, is free, but we ask you to register with us so we can make sure we have plenty of food and fun for everyone. Just contact us at 880-4888 or klcb@coastalnow.net.