Serve your community by volunteering
for second "Great Day of Service"
By Ellen Gerstein
Executive Director
Gwinnett Coalition for Health and Human Services
Special to GwinnettForum.com

OCT. 16, 2001 -- Gwinnett's second "Great Day of Service" is set for Friday, October 26, hosted by the Gwinnett Coalition for Health and Human Services. Currently, over 300 volunteers have committed their time to serve 25 social service agencies, schools, and parks that are in need of a "helping hand."

This day of community service will begin at 7:30 a.m. with a breakfast at the 1818 Club in Duluth, featuring John Addison, CEO of Primerica Financial Services, as keynote speaker. Following the breakfast, volunteer teams will go out into the community to assist with landscaping and painting projects, neighborhood education, food collection & sorting, playground refurbishment, blood drives, and much more.

At the close of the day, the volunteers will gather as a group again at the Hudgens Center for the Arts in Duluth at 3 p.m. to celebrate their hard work and accomplishments and be recognized for the difference they have made in Gwinnett County.

Community-minded individuals seeking service opportunities, as well as corporate volunteer teams, are encouraged to participate. The goal is to strengthen Gwinnett by completing defined projects, educating citizens about the needs around them, forming new partnerships and providing a better community in which to live.

This event is designed to gain community awareness for the Gwinnett Coalition for Health & Human Services and the many agencies and organizations the Coalition represents and supports, while working hands-on to make a difference in the community.

Volunteer recruitment will take place up through Thursday, October 25. The corporate volunteer teams that have signed up to help to-date include North Gwinnett Rotary, South Gwinnett Rotary, Gwinnett University Center, Gwinnett Convention & Visitors Bureau, Gwinnett Rotary, People's Bank & Trust, BB&T, Duluth Rotary, Primerica, Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce, and Snellville Rotary.

Just a vision for the Gwinnett Coalition for Health & Human Services two years ago, the "Great Day of Service" was created in the spirit of Gwinnett's slogan, "Success Lives Here."

Paige Havens, community relations & development director for the Gwinnett University Center, and Chair of this effort explains, "The successes in Gwinnett are ever abundant, but there are significant needs in our community that are often overlooked."

The day has become an annual day of coming together. We are tremendously grateful for the support we have seen from the Gwinnett community. This is truly history in the making for Gwinnett County and is sure to be a model for other communities in years to come.

Organizations that will directly benefit from this "Great Day of Service" include Buford Senior Day Club, North Metro Program, Gwinnett Housing Resource Partnership, Gwinnett Clean & Beautiful, Kanoheda Elementary, Annandale at Suwanee, Inc., Gwinnett County Parks & Recreation, United Way, Robert D. Fowler YMCA, Gwinnett Children's Shelter, Lawrenceville Cooperative Ministry, Department of Family & Children Services, Rainbow Village, Bread of Life, Boys & Girls Club, YMCA- Lawrenceville, LifeSouth Blood Services, Lawrenceville Housing Authority, Norcross Elementary, Hudgens Center for the Arts, Gwinnett Battered Women's Shelter, SE Gwinnett Cooperative Ministry and Collins Hill High School.

For more information about this event or to learn how you can be a volunteer, please contact Paige Havens at 678-377-3672.

-- 30 --