To volunteer with The Nature Conservancy of Georgia/: www.nature.org
To volunteer with Trees Atlanta: www.treesatlanta.org
Over 200 volunteers spent Oct. 25 on a mission to beautify various landscapes around Atlanta as a part of the National Make a Difference Day. Hosted by The Nature Conservancy of Georgia, the Connect with Nature events in DeKalb and Fulton counties aimed to improve the health of Atlanta’s urban forests and green places.
Deron Davis, executive director of The Nature Conservancy of Georgia, said that the organization does a lot of work to protect Georgia’s natural resources, “but now we wanted to move into the city and do a lot of our preservation work in Atlanta. We also wanted to reach and engage the people in the city to make a difference in their local community.”
The day was also in partnership with Trees Atlanta, a citizens group that is dedicated to protect and improve Atlanta’s urban forests.
The day of service had area residents mulch trails and clean up a section of the South River shoreline at Davidson-Arabia Mountain Nature Preserve in Lithonia; plant trees and shrubs at the Veterans’ Medical Center in Decatur; and plant a community forest along English Avenue in Atlanta.
“The partnership is just another way that we want to take care of our green space,” said Greg Levine, co-executive director of Trees Atlanta. “We are not successful without our community and volunteering for even a day makes a huge difference and increases the amount of good we do in our city, for our city.”
For The Nature Conservancy, people can volunteer in the field at nature preserves or even in the office. Trees Atlanta hosts over 400 events a year around Atlanta that involve tree planting and landscaping.
In other news: Amerigroup Georgia has awarded a $25,000 gift to Street Grace to help fund research about Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking. The donation will fund research about how and why foster youth are drawn into DMST and what can be done to diminish the gap. Street Grace is a faith-based organization leading faith partners, community organizations and individual volunteers on a comprehensive path to end domestic minor sex trafficking in metro Atlanta and throughout the United States.
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