By Kasey Boling
LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. | Each year, Gwinnett County hosts a community-wide volunteer initiative called Gwinnett Great Days of Service (GDOS). Every fall, volunteers from corporations, schools, civic organizations and nonprofits unite for a powerful weekend of community building, connection and positive impact. While that may be all the convincing you need to determine that this endeavor truly is great, your friends at Gwinnett Clean and Beautiful have crafted a list of four things that we believe put the “GREAT” in Gwinnett Great Days of Service.
Its history runs deep: Taking place over the course of a weekend each Fall, Gwinnett Great Days of Service got its start in 2000. Launched by the Gwinnett Coalition for Health and Human Services – a nonprofit organization dedicated to addressing the health and human service needs of everyone in Gwinnett County, it is now powered by Volunteer Gwinnett. Through its creation and expansion, this cooperative and community-focused initiative has fostered a new era of engagement and volunteerism in Gwinnett County. This year, Gwinnett Great Days of Service will take place from October 17 to 19.
It’s among the Southeast’s largest community initiatives: Growing each year, GDOS involves hundreds of projects that address Gwinnett’s most pressing needs. After a wide variety of projects have been submitted for consideration during an application period, Volunteer Gwinnett engages and mobilizes thousands of volunteers to support a weekend of hands-on service projects across the county.
Projects are most often hosted by:
- 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations;
- Civic and neighborhood associations;
- Youth and alumni associations;
- Faith-based organizations;
- Historical societies and cultural organizations;
- Schools, PTAs and university-affiliated clubs or departments;
- Colleges, universities and student organizations;
- Community-based service organizations; and
- Government-affiliated programs and advisory boards.
It is not open to project submissions from private individuals, for-profit entities, political or lobbying groups, or projects focused on direct fundraising, candidate endorsements or proselytizing.
Take your pick of projects: Helen Keller perhaps said it best, “Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.” Representing a broad range of community-focused projects to address specific needs and issues throughout Gwinnett County, Great Days of Service offers something for everyone who hopes to serve. More than that, it provides an avenue for you to support causes you care about—hunger relief, education, the environment, and more. And while serving, you can:
- Connect with neighbors, friends, and fellow changemakers;
- Earn service hours for school, work, or leadership programs;
- Make an impact in your community; and
- Reap the rewards that come from giving back.
Register for our next Adopt-A-Stream workshop: It’s a double-header! In this free Adopt-A-Stream training workshop, we will focus on both Bacterial and Chemical parameters of water quality, learning how to test the dissolved oxygen, temperature, pH and conductivity of the water, as well as monitoring E. coli levels. To adopt your own stream, go to: https://gwinnettcb.org/programs/adopt-a-stream/.
Shout out to these Adopt-A-Road partners: Adopt-A-Road is a program that enlists partners to engage volunteers to help keep our community clean and beautiful by conducting road cleanups! It’s ideal for companies, organizations, churches, schools, and neighborhoods. Special thanks to the Greater Atlanta Vedic Temple, Truth and Union Lodge, Highland Ridge, the Rotary Club of Duluth, CHA Consulting, and Mitsubishi Electric Trane HVAC for conducting cleanups in July, August and September. To adopt a road, go to: https://gwinnettcb.org/programs/adopt-a-road/.
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