KGIB needs vols for Rivers Alive cleanups

Larry Hobbs, The Brunswick News, Ga.
·2 min read

Nov. 30—Keep Golden Isles Beautiful needs help with this year's Rivers Alive initiative, a trio of volunteer cleanup efforts of local waters.

The organization is asking volunteers for a few hours of their time, which will make a ton of difference to the environmentally sensitive waterways of Glynn County.

The Rivers Alive cleanups will take place as follows: 10 a.m. in downtown Brunswick along the East River; 3:30 p.m. Dec. 13 by the Turtle River Bridge; 3:30 p.m. Dec. 15 by the Brunswick River Bridge.

Volunteers will meet in the parking lot north of the Kut-Kwick building at 1927 Newcastle St. for the first cleanup on the south side of the Turtle River Bridge on Blythe Island Highway for the second cleanup and on the south side of the Brunswick River Bridge on Blythe Island Highway for the final cleanup.

Cleanup supplies will be provided to all volunteers, who also will receive a Rivers Alive T-shirt for participating. Each event is expected to last about an hour to 90 minutes, said Lea King-Badyna, KGIB's executive director.

KGIB has picked up nearly five tons of trash in the past seven years through the annual Rivers Alive cleanups with the help of volunteers, she said. The trash removed from the riverbanks and environs beside these rivers plays a direct role in making a cleaner and healthier marine environment from the marshes to the ocean, she said.

KGIB is the local organizer of Rivers Alive, a statewide volunteer effort headed by the Georgia Environmental Protection Division to target litter in rivers, lakes, beaches and wetlands.

As event sponsor, The Torras Foundation put up $1,500 toward the local cleanups, King-Badyna said.

"Rivers Alive cleanups allow our collective volunteer reach to spread throughout Georgia, with KGIB volunteers joining others across the state," King-Badyna said. "We are grateful to the Torras Foundation for their support and sponsorship of the effort locally. And we really need volunteers for all three cleanups."

Since 2015, some 229 local Rivers Alive volunteers have removed a total of 9,816 pounds of trash from around local waters, King-Badyna said. Volunteers have committed 448 hours to Rivers Alive cleanups in that time, covering 31 miles.

For more information, call 912-279-1490 or email kbgib@gmail.com.