Orkin Pest Control Volunteer Brian Wood helps remove overgrowth from the Hero House property. It’s his and Orkin Pest Control’s first time participating in Day of Action. He said it feels good making a difference in the community, specifically at the Children’s Advocacy Center.

MOULTRIE —Richard Edwards is the president of the Moultrie branch of CBC Bank. He usually sits at a desk to manage, sign and approve paperwork in the air-conditioned rooms of the bank’s Veterans Parkway North location.

But on Wednesday, Edwards forwent a button-down shirt, a pair of slacks and A/C for 95-degree weather, a pair of cargo shorts and a white short displaying plainly “Live United.”

He and 150 volunteers from across Colquitt County did this in honor of United Way of Colquitt County’s Day of Action, a day-long community service effort held from noon to 5 p.m.

Edwards said it made him a different kind of tired.

“You get physically tired from working outside, but you’re mentally tired from working inside,” he said.

This was the first time in 15 years that he’d participated in Day of Action. Time deficiency stopped him from joining in before, but this year Edwards wasn’t going to let it stop him. He said Day of Action gives him a sense of fulfillment.

“I’ve been in Colquitt County since ’72 and this community has a very caring spirit,” Edwards said. “This is a good opportunity to give back to some of the people that are less fortunate than we are.”

And that he did by choosing to help the Hero House Child Advocacy Center, which received heavy lawn maintenance and pressure washing on its buildings.

Hero House Executive Director Regina Dismuke was no stranger to Day of Action but said seeing a united community each year is stunning.

“It’s amazing what individuals of this community will do when asked to do for non-profit organizations,” she said. “It was hot yesterday and they (were) just donating their time and effort.”

That was only half the point, said Day of Action Chairman Brian Lasseter. The other is in educating the volunteers about the non-profit organizations to which they donate.

United Way is often the go-between with non-profit organizations, so only a small number of representatives actually interact with them. Day of Action rectifies this.

“It gives the agency both the opportunity to let us invest in them resource-wise, time-wise, talent-wise, but it also allows them to educate some of the individuals (on) what all they provide,” he said.

American Red Cross of Southwest Georgia is the perfect example of this. It services 24 counties including Colquitt, but it only has nine volunteers, according to ARC Volunteer Connie Fleetwood.

Fleetwood and fellow volunteer Sharron Williams helmed the pillowcase project and fire safety programs taught to Cox Elementary School and in an R.B. Wright Elementary after-school program.

ARC also checked smoke alarms and, if broken, replaced them with new battery-less 10-year ones in Cox’s surrounding neighborhood.

The pillowcase project, a disaster readiness program, allowed students to decorate a pillowcase and fill it with essential items (i.e. water, snacks, flashlights, one comfort item, etc.) in case of a natural disaster.

But for the fire safety program, Williams emphasized to the students that “You have less than two minutes to get out of the house.

“You get out, stay out and let the firemen do their job,” she said. “They’ve got special equipment so they can go back in and get that pet that didn’t run out.”

The main goal was safety and getting the students excited about the information, so it causes a domino effect.

“At that age, if we get them excited, they then take that information home and educate their parents and their family,” Williams said.

The two were glad that American Red Cross’ partnership with UWCC gave them enough volunteers to make a desired impact in the community on Day of Action, but it doesn’t solve the organizations problem in lacking volunteers.

However, it did bring light to the situation, one of the points stated above.

Day of Action enacted eight other projects including cleaning and repainting at the arts center; fall-winter building prep and cleaning at Children’s Cheer and Toy Shop; cleaning at Colquitt Food Bank and the downtown YMCA; repainting at the Boys and Girls Club, and Green Oak Center; storage organization at the Senior Center; and building wheelchair ramps with Windstream Holdings and Colquitt Regional Medical Center.

UWCC Director Caroline Horne said this year was a success but said the goal for next year is quality.

“We want to make sure it’s a total difference from before we got there and after we got there,” she said. “So, we’re not just skimming the surface.”

Horne wants non-profit organizations to see Day of Action as a “big jump” or big impact to show more change can occur than clean-up.

To contact UWCC, call 229-985-2627 or visit 116 First Avenue S.E. in Moultrie.