Fall 2016 GIVE Day
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A group of 7 students went to a new site: the Peachtree Branch Library in the DeKalb County System. As part of an ongoing initiative, Shape Up the Shelves, we helped update the library’s catalog so books could make their way to the proper location. While some novels looked more interesting than others, we made our way through two sections of the branch during our morning there, and got the chance to see the location before it opened up to the public for the afternoon!
2 graduate students volunteered at the Gateway Center on a Saturday morning to help Gateway employees distribute clothes from the storage clothing available to the clients. Individuals who utilize the Gateway services are referred to as clients and as such we volunteered our time as part of the GIVE day community service by acting like store clerks at check-outs.
Another group of 15 graduate student volunteers sorted food donations at the Atlanta Community Food Bank. We broke into small groups with the other volunteers, a Cub Scout troop and their families, and formed an efficient food-sorting assembly line. It was a great team building exercise as we worked alongside one another and the other volunteers. At the end of our shift we sorted over almost 10,000 lbs of food, enough for 7,000 individual meals for the needy!
Our final group of GIVE volunteers celebrated the inaugural Fall GIVE Day through their work on the Beltline Project at Perkerson Park. In this event, our goal was to help preserve the native tree species that have lived there for over 400 years. Invasive plants such as kudzu and other vines have started creeping up their trunks and competing with the trees for light. If unstopped, this leads to mass tree death and the loss of natural habitats for many Georgia species. During GIVE day, we worked as a team to remove vines from over 100 trees so that we can help protect this park on the Atlanta Beltline. This was definitely a great experience, and we'd be happy to come back again!