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Residents across Georgia are gearing up to serve
their communities in volunteer service during Hands On Georgia Week 2007.
Sponsored by AGL Resources, Georgia Natural Gas, Georgia's Electronic Membership
Corporations, InterContinental Hotels and
SunTrust Directed Funds, the week of service runs September 29 through October
6.
Hands On Georgia Week launched in 2004 with
Georgians performing large scale service projects in five cities around the
state. As many as 830 volunteers contributed more than 3,700 hours of service.
By the next year, the week of service grew exponentially with all but seven
Georgia counties hosting projects. Around the state 25,000 volunteers served
more than 115,000 hours at 470 project sites. In 2006 all 159 counties
participated with 30,000 volunteers performing 125,000 hours cleaning the
state’s waterways, picking up trash along the state’s highways and collecting
cans for the state’s food banks, among other things.
This year Hands On Georgia will once again
gather volunteers from all 159 counties in the state to tackle the pressing
needs of their communities. The week of service kicks off Saturday, September
29 with Hands On Thomas County Day, the largest single county-wide day of
service in the state and culminates Saturday, October 6 with Hands On Atlanta
Day, the largest day of service in the country. Some of the planned projects
across the state include clean ups of Lake Oconee and the Alapaha River;
wheelchair ramp builds in Madison County and the planting of a native plant
garden at Baker County Elementary school in memory of two students tragically
killed in the tornado that hit Baker County in the spring of this year.
“Each year I am amazed at how committed
Georgians are to serving other Georgians,” says Eric Tanenblatt, board chair.
“During this week alone, our citizens spend hours upon hours selflessly
dedicating themselves in service to their neighbors, their neighborhoods and
their communities as a whole.”
Volunteers interested in participating in Hands
On Georgia Week 2007 are encouraged to e-mail or call Hands On Georgia at
info@handsongeorgia.org or (404) 979-2842.
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