WELLS: Thank you, local Earth Week volunteers

Published 3:00 pm Saturday, April 27, 2024

As we bring Earth Week 2024 to a close, Keep Milledgeville Baldwin Beautiful would like to take a moment to thank the countless number of volunteers who helped make this year’s Earth Day County-Wide Clean-Up a success. As the chairman of the KMBB Board of Directors, I have visited with citizens all over Baldwin County and Milledgeville who feel that litter is not only an aesthetic issue, but one that has second and third order effects on the county. It is no secret that communities that are littered are usually more susceptible to crime, and they tend to draw more litter. Residents in communities that struggle with litter and blight often feel unmotivated to be involved in other community initiatives and are often driven to feel that if no one else cares, why should they. Litter can also increase maintenance expenses in a community, reduce tourism revenues, and lead businesses to seek other locations to open and expand. 

With that being said, all of us have to accept that the problem with litter and blight is not just the problem of our elected officials or the brave men and women who protect us in our city and county law enforcement agencies. It is a problem we all share. Our local leaders are not the ones littering. While true they hold the keys to strong ordinances against littering and fines for those who do, the greatest key to solving this problem and turning the tide on litter and blight is the citizenry of Baldwin County and Milledgeville. We have to not only encourage and demand that our local leaders continue to focus on this issue and use their positions as pulpits, so to speak, to highlight both the problem and the solutions, which should include continued strong ordinances concerning uncovered loads, both motorists and pedestrians who litter, and improper disposal of household garbage, but we must also do our part and put action with thought to help our leaders and local law enforcement to turn the tide. On Saturday, April 20, so many of our neighbors, friends, and college students in this community did just that. We had close to 500 volunteers that day who took their time in what turned out to be a rather warm spring day, to pick up trash they did not throw out. 

Those volunteers are too numerous to name individually, but the groups and teams to which they belong are not. First, much thanks goes to the 145th Corp of Cadets at Georgia Military College. All 240 of these young men and women deployed to nine locations in Milledgeville and Baldwin County including Huley Park, Walter B. Williams Park, Bone Cemetery, Memory Hill Cemetery, East Franklin Street, Caraker and Swint Avenues, and The Oconee River Greenway. Moreover, Georgia College & State University students volunteered in large numbers to help with The Oconee River Greenway Day and Lockerly Plant Sale. Much thanks to Lori Hamilton, KMBB Board Member and GCSU Chief Sustainability Officer for recruiting these students. Smaller teams out in the county included Team Andrew Strickland, Team Jay Wright, Team Pam Peacock, The Milledgeville Rotary Club, The Exchange Club of Milledgeville, Kay McGiboney HPR Realtors, Atrium Health Navicent, Rev. Tony Frahley, and Team Scott Little. Without these supporters, the April 20th event would not have been a success. Also crucial were donations from The City of Milledgeville, Jim Fain, Jonathan and Kate Pope, Citizens Bank of the South, The Exchange Club of Milledgeville, Georgia College Gives Center, and The Milledgeville Baldwin Chamber of Commerce to help defray the cost of providing lunch for the GMC Cadets who were so vital to our event.  

So many in our community have talked about the problem of litter and blight, as well as the importance of recycling and creating a community that is sustainable for future generations. KMBB embraces those things as well. Together, we can turn the tide and do our part to stop the things that drag us backwards. Every citizen can do her or his part. It starts with good habits at home, respect for the greater community, and a civic pride that shifts forward as generations come and go. As my grandmother used to say, “A can’t never could; a won’t never would, and a shouldn’t probably never should.” Well, Milledgeville and Baldwin County citizens can, will, and should. Let’s Keep Milledgeville and Baldwin County Beautiful, and thank you to all those who made this event the best yet.

Dr. Jeff Wells

Chairman, Keep

Milledgeville Baldwin Beautiful