Rivers Alive 2022

SM&P staff signed up for the Rivers Alive 2022 cleanup via the Georgia Rivers Alive program. The office team joined in with the National Park Service, Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area, Keep Smyrna Beautiful, Keep Cobb Beautiful, Keep Marietta Beautiful, and Cobb County Water System on a drizzly Saturday morning in September to clean litter from local river banks.

There were five sites where clean-up was occurring that weekend. According to Client Relations Director Victoria Turney, the “crew” supported the Chattahoochee River and Rottenwood Creek at Paces Mill Unit of the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area. The sites ranged in difficulty levels of easy and flat to off-trail and somewhat strenuous and varied between one to four miles round trip.

All participants were directed to wear sturdy closed-toed shoes and light-weight, long pants for the challenging tasks they had agreed to take on. Gloves, safety vests, trash bags, and litter grabber sticks were also available to the hearty volunteers.

Participants eight years of age and older spent the day transforming our beautiful and greatly treasured waterways. As a small token of appreciation, each volunteer received an artistically rendered t-shirt commemorating the event.

SM&P Paralegal Assistant Brenda Escutia said she loved being a part of this year’s Rivers Alive volunteer project. “It felt great being able to give back to the community, and I was able to meet some very sweet people. I look forward to more volunteer opportunities.”

According to Maggi Moss, community engagement supervisor and executive director of Keep Marietta Beautiful, 75 volunteers joined the effort on that Saturday morning. “Seventy-four bags of litter were removed from the area totaling around 1480 pounds of trash. Also removed were two rafts and one shopping cart.”

“This cleanup is always great fun and a rewarding experience,” said Victoria, who has been supporting this annual event for many years. “It makes a very visible difference that the whole community, including the natural community, can benefit from. Removing litter from the land and water areas of the park will help protect wildlife and water quality and improve the aesthetics and enjoyment for park users.”

“Our employees can be counted on to give time and energy to projects that touch their hearts,” said Mary Montgomery, SM&P founding and managing partner. “This has become a treasured tradition.”