Democratic U.S. Senate hopeful Michelle Nunn returned to her volunteer roots on Saturday as she pitched in at the 25th Hands on Atlanta Day service project.
Nunn, who founded the Hands on Atlanta volunteer organization, brought along some high-powered help — Jill Biden, wife of Vice President Joe Biden. Together the pair helped spread mulch and beautify a park on Boulevard in Downtown Atlanta, while other volunteer teams spread out across the neighborhood. The work followed a rally at Fort Street United Methodist Church.
Biden is in town to help raise money for Nunn’s campaign against Republican David Perdue, but Saturday’s event was decidedly non-partisan. The words “Perdue,” “Senate,” “Democrat” and “Republican” were never uttered.
Arthur Perkins of Morningside didn’t even know Nunn was going to be at the event.
“I’m happy she is,” Perkins said. “Politics is getting to the point where you either galvanize for big business or for the population as a whole. I feel she’s for the population as a whole.”
Perkins’ friend, Derryl Scott of Lithonia, said he came to Saturday’s event both for the service and to see Nunn.
“She is more for the people, the little people, the middle class,” Scott said. “She stands for the have nots more than the haves.”
An Army veteran, Scott said he believes Nunn will do more to help veterans.
“I know her father did,” Scott said, referring to former U.S. Sen. Sam Nunn.
Before grabbing a rake and heading to the park, Nunn said she and her friends formed Hands on Atlanta because “people will always answer the call to service. There’s nothing we can’t do, no wrong we can’t right, when we work together.”
Biden, who attended three fundraisers in the 24 hours or so she was in Atlanta, told the volunteers their commitment to service was evident.
“We have jobs, we have families,” Biden said. “We have other obligations. The reason Michelle Nunn and a group of friends founded Hands on Atlanta Day 25 years ago is because we all know the value of community service.”
Nunn, Biden said, is “someone who is making a difference in Georgia.”
About the Author
