MCHS Club Seeking 1,000 Volunteers

Next month, the hopes to enlist hundreds of volunteers to take part in a series of Global Youth Service Day events. Charles OrgBon, Key Club member and Global Youth Service Day chairman, said he hopes to engage youth in service while emphasizing the importance of volunteering in the community.

“What we plan to do is work with partners in our county and be a facilitator to other youth groups and other young people in our cluster who want to engage in service,” OrgBon said. “[We] also want to bridge the connection between service and what it means to a young person and its effects on the community.”

During the week of April 11 – 17, OrgBon and other Key Club members will participate in several events designed to make a difference in the Mill Creek community. April 11 – 15, volunteers will help organize the Amigos for Christ warehouse each day from 3- 5 p.m. On Friday, April 15, volunteers will assist the North Gwinnett co-op. A separate group of volunteers will spend time with senior citizens at the Golden Living Center. Volunteers will visit the on Sunday, April 17 from 4:30 – 6 p.m. to read to youth ages three to seven.

“We’re also working with other schools and other clubs to help them do their own projects because we want to engage the entire cluster,” he said.

While every project is important, the main volunteer event will take place on Saturday, April 16, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at .

“We’ll be cleaning up invasive species, planting plants and picking up litter,” OrgBon said.

The event is being sponsored by Gwinnett Clean and Beautiful and OrgBon’s own Greening Forward, an environmental advocacy organization he started in 2008 as a web-based group.

“Now it has grown into an organization that’s working to engage, establish and empower a diverse green movement in schools, workplaces and communities,” OrgBon said. “It’s an advocacy organization that’s working in five states. It’s a 32-member organization and growing.”

The energy and enthusiasm that led OrgBon to create his environmental advocacy organization has driven him to set the lofty goal of enlisting 1,000 volunteers in direct or indirect service for the Global Youth Service Day events this year and has him already thinking about what the group can accomplish in the future.

“My hope is that we can take what we’re doing this year and, learning and building upon that, evaluate ourselves and see what we can do for next year,” he said.

Key Club advisor Dr. Clyde Wylie said the club’s primary focus since its inception has been helping the community and making the community better. However, the Global Youth Service Day is not about Key Club, he said.

“We want this to be about making this the best day to get as many people involved as we can,” Wylie said.

To volunteer for a Global Youth Service Day event, contact Wylie at Clyde_Wylie@gwinnett.k12.ga.us.