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Volunteers are priceless for service organizations
Keep Liberty Beautiful
Keep Liberty Beautiful logo

There are organizations that estimate the value of the average volunteer, like www.independentsector.org, which currently values their time at $22.55 an hour.

Some may think that is high, but for those of us who depend on volunteers to meet community needs, we know there really is no price when it comes to volunteers. Volunteers are pure gold.

For programs like Keep Liberty Beautiful, volunteers are priceless. They are the heart of our program. Without volunteers, Keep Liberty Beautiful is nothing.

I work to make Keep America Beautiful engage individuals to take responsibility for improving their environment. As director of KLB, I am just a navigator. The program’s success comes from people who decide to make a difference. The best part of my job is getting to know people who don’t mind working to make the community the best can be.

Volunteers come in all shapes and sizes and ages. They all have their own interests and reasons for volunteering, so we do our best to match them with what they want to do. Some help with litter cleanups. Others are interested in recycling. They know that a clean and attractive community benefits all of us who live here.

We have young volunteers. Some kids are even in strollers with their parents as they clean for the Adopt Liberty Program. Some young volunteers have volunteered since they were tots and are now in high school or even in college. We even have of volunteers in their 70s who can outpace me.

We have business partners and all of our municipalities that support cleanups. We have a host of schools and youth organizations that participate in programs, like our recent Earth Day celebration, which is implemented by hundreds of volunteers from more than 60 businesses and organizations each year.

We have a variety of Adopt Liberty groups that faithfully maintain stretches of roads each quarter. We have a host of churches that come out in stewardship to clean up God’s world. We have a number of neighborhoods that make sure at least once a quarter they hold a community-improvement effort, doing litter cleanups or some type of beautification project.

All of our 4,000 volunteers this year have their own stories and reasons. They bring their own gifts and talents. They all have made a difference here in Liberty County.

To honor these volunteers each year, we have a volunteer appreciation. This year’s will be from 5-7 p.m. May 21 at South Georgia Bank at the corner of Veterans Parkway and South Main Street. We are excited to have this casual, drop-in event and appreciate the bank’s sponsorship. We are able to hold this event as a Liberty County Chamber of Commerce Business After Hours and appreciate the chamber affording us the opportunity,

So, if you volunteered this year, I hope you’ll drop by so that we can say thanks in person. Just register at 880-4888 or by email or at the Chamber at 368-4445. If you are a “volunteer wannabe” and just want to find out about KLB programs, you’re invited, too. Just register, so that we can plenty of food and drinks. Join us for an evening of food, music and fun.

To learn more about KLB programs, call us at 880-4888, email klcb@coastalnow.net or check out our website www.keeplibertybeautiful.org.

Swida is director of Keep Liberty Beautiful.

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