My Global Youth Service Day experience was a memorable and exciting one. For my part in this service day I was the volunteer coordinator at Southeast Clarke Park along with the FRIENDS of Southeast Clarke Park. It’s a very beautiful and family friendly park. There were about six enthusiastic youth with me at this site. We helped pull weeds and spread mulch around the park area. Everyone had a great time mingling with each other and getting a great workout while working under the sun. At the end of our activity, each volunteer had an opportunity to state how they felt about the day’s activity. One senior student from Clarke Central High School stated that the students at the high school were not able to get many opportunities to do such activities. She believed that it would be a great idea to get more clubs and student organizations involved in the community, even if its just students taking pride in their schools through activities similar to the one in Southeast Clarke Park. So, look for a change in direction for Global Youth Service Day 2010. There may be more of an effort to get the schools and school district involved in student volunteerism!

Athens Youth Give Back

On Saturday, April 25th, 2009 Athens Youth gave back to the community in a big way. With the help of Athens-Clarke County Stormwater, Athens Area Community Council on Aging, Sparrow's Nest, and UGA Greek Ambassador Program over 30 youth were engaged in environmental projects aimed to increase community awareness of pollution run-off into streams and how to build rain barrels for community use at homes, businessess, and schools. The projects were a great success and the youth were engaged and eager to help out. Most importantly, they learned the benefits of using rain barrels to save water and how pollution can run-off into our streams through the stormdrains in the community. Overall, it was a great day! They worked hard from 9:30AM-12:30PM and every minute was valuable and beneficial time. Our hope is that next year we will see our numbers grow so that the youth of Athens-Clarke County can make a bigger impact for years to come.

Global Youth Service Day

HandsOn Northeast Georgia is excited to be organizing local projects as part of Global Youth Service Day. This is the first time that we have had local projects associated with this global event and we have five great projects planned.

- Rain Barrels making

- Storm Drain decal project

- Clean-up at a local school

- Helping at a community garden

- Beautifying a local park

Thank you to Athens-Clarke County Stormwater and Georgia 4-H for their support of these projects.

To sign-up click here!

Youth under age 15 must have parent or adult supervision. All volunteers under age 18 must have a youth waiver signed.