The ServiceNation Movement began with a national Day of Action on Sept. 27. In observance of the coast-to-coast initiative, Athens Middle School students, three classroom teachers, Athens/Limestone Beautifcation Board and RSVP partnered to perform a day of service in repainting the Forrest Street underpass for a project.

AMS teacher Sherry Kilgore’s, seventh-grade Community Service class; Sherry McEwen’s eighth-grade Community Service class, and Jennifer Kennedy, Talented and Gifted specialist, decided it was time to clean up the graffiti on the underpass. Teachers, parents, seventh and eighth-grade students, Beautifcation Board members, RSVP, Athens Police Officer Charles Clem and Athens Parks and Recreation Department partnered to make a difference.

Seventh-grade students involved in the project were: Holly Clark, Hannah Johnson, Emily Risdon, Gracie Shearon, Jessica Smith, and Blair Wright. Eighth-grade students involved were Josh Bailey, Jovany Garcia, Andrew McNutt, and Harrison Nelson. Adults volunteering their time were: Bill Johnson, Diane Risdon (Beautifcation Board), John Risdon, Lindsey Risdon, and Betty Ruth (Beautification Board President and RSVP executive director). Tortillas Blanco owner Mark White provided chips and dip for the volunteers.

McEwen’s and Kilgore’s Community Service classes spend time each week picking up litter around AMS and the old Kroger Building.

Citizen organizers pulled together their communities at more than 2,700 events across America with the concept that citizen service can strengthen democracy and help solve the most persistent social challenges and crises. It is their hope that by 2020, 100 million Americans will volunteer time in schools, workplaces, and faith-based and community institutions each and every year (up from 61 million today).

Visit www.servicenation.org for more details on the Service Nation Movement.

If you would like to become a community volunteer, contact RSVP/Volunteer Point at (256) 232-7207.