Volunteers stream in to clean up the Flint River

ALBANY — More than 100 volunteers streamed to the nearby trails on the banks of the Flint River Saturday while others kayaked and canoed downstream as Keep Albany-Dougherty Beautiful once again hosted its Rivers Alive river cleanup event, sponsored by MillerCoors.

The only thing missing was KADB Director Executive Director Judy Bowles, who was in Colorado Saturday.

“This is is the first one I’ve missed since we started doing this,” Bowles said. “I won’t be there in body, but I will be there in mind and spirit.”

This year marked the 11th year KADB has organized the event in conjunction with the statewide Rivers Alive campaign, which is organized by the Keep Georgia Beautiful Foundation and the Georgia Department of Natural Resources to encourage cleanup along all 70,150 miles of Georgia’s rivers, lakes, streams and wetlands.

The volunteers were a diverse crowd, some arriving at various stops along the river in trucks, cars, buses and bicycles, but all the volunteers shared the common goal of cleaning up the river and its walking trails.

The Criminal Justice Club of Albany State University brought more than 30 ASU students to the river.

“We think this is a good opportunity for people from different parts of the state to help give back to Albany, Georgia,” Alicia Harry from Long Island, N.Y., said. “Albany is Albany State University, and ASU is Albany.”

Club President Christine Frazier of Atlanta agreed.

“We are here to give back to the community while helping the environment at the same time,” she said. “We just want to make Dougherty County a better place to live.”

“We are here to clean up the environment in this town and river,” said Symone Johnson of Decatur. “We want to give the river and our environment a second chance.”

Prior to leaving for Colorado on Friday, Bowles said since 2004 volunteers at the event have helped remove more than 45 tons of unwanted debris from the banks of the river that plays such an important role in the community.

“We believe that a clean community is a way of giving back as good citizens of where we serve,” volunteer Lisa Battle-Jackson said.

Melissa Sumner of Albany, who recently joined the board of KADB, said the board was holding its meeting on the banks of the Flint Saturday, adding, “This is all about being a proud member of our community.”

Volunteer Kyle Vesco, who works at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College in Tifton, journeyed from his Doerun home to assist in the cleanup.

“Rivers are the lifeblood of a community,” he said. “They provide tremendous economic and social benefits, and I wanted to help.”

Another volunteer, Melvious Peters of Parrott, said he was encouraged by the number of volunteers he saw Saturday.

“This is a unique opportunity to give back to the community and help keep Dougherty County clean,” he said. “It’s really nice to see everyone giving up their time for this. It means a lot.”