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Community Corner

Cobb Celebrates Global Youth Service Day

Cobb youth were honored in the largest service event in the world.

Cobb County honored the contributions of more than 4,500 Cobb County youth Saturday morning, celebrating their work with Global Youth Service Day and other service projects throughout the past year. The event, held at the Cobb County Civic Center, was hosted by Cobb Community Collaborative (CCC) in partnership with Cobb County Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs.

CCC serves as a lead agency for Youth Serve America and has been hosting Global Youth Service Day (GYSD) for more than seven years.

“The activities highlight the amazing contributions that young people make to their communities throughout the year,” said CCC Executive Director Joan O’Connell.

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The event is the largest service event in the world, celebrating millions of youth in over 120 countries. GYSD joins a variety of local, regional and national partners in the endeavor.

“While celebrating the remarkable achievements of young people, it also serves to recruit a whole new generation of young volunteers," O’Connell added.   

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“The annual event educates the public, media and policymakers about the contributions of young people as community leaders,” she said. “This is a great way to recognize our communities’ youth for doing something positive when so often we only hear about the negative things youth are involved in like drugs and school disciplinary issues.”

The participating youth groups that were honored included government and civic organizations, scouts, church youth, schools and individual families. The recognized groups and individuals all participated in service projects throughout the year in Cobb County and registered with GYSD.

The wide variety of service projects completed this year include public awareness campaigns on underage drinking, teen pregnancy prevention, child abuse prevention, services for the hungry/homeless, help for senior citizens, school activities, special needs programs, politics and government, neighborhood enhancement and environmental awareness.

Ahmari Ephrom, a 7-year-old first grade student at Imagine Academy, collected supplies and made shoeboxes for the United Way 2011 Shoebox Campaign. 

“It’s a nice thing to do for homeless people and help them by giving them stuff they can use,” Ephrom said.

GYSD Event Coordinator Joan Trent said, “We have collected hundreds of shoeboxes for the United Way Shoebox Campaign, and the donations are still coming in since the event is ongoing until May 8.”

“Not only have the youth groups supported the Shoebox Campaign, but we asked our entertainers for the event to bring shoeboxes with them to donate, and they really rose to the occasion,” said Trent.

The day's events also included activities and entertainment provided by more than 100 community resource participants, led by Masters of Ceremony Justin Lambert and Christopher Huff.  

Performers included Prince Nefew and Da Mill, Faith in Motion, Nu M-mage, Rayven Bailey, Dem Shelton Boyz featuring Ziggy the Rock Star, Neo Love and duo Adrienne Smith and Tayla Scott.

The event's Keynote Speaker was Arthur Powell, a reformed drug dealer and former gang member, who now serves as a Gang Prevention Expert and Life Skills Coach. In his speech, Powell encouraged young people to choose a lifestyle free of gang involvement and criminal activities.

Positive affirmation posters made by contributing youth were displayed throughout the arena with messages such as: Do Not Do Drugs, No Bullying, Keep the Peace, No Smoking, Say No to Pollution, No Gangs, Stop the Violence, Color Doesn’t Matter and Watch What You Say.

In addition to the entertainment, the youth enjoyed an afternoon of prize-winning, game-playing, networking and learning more about the various resources in the community.

“This youth movement creates healthy communities, fosters citizenship, knowledge and personal development of young people. We are growing every year and we encourage all youth serving organizations to get involved in GYSD next year,” said O'Connell.

For more information about volunteering, sponsoring or participating in next year’s event, visit www.cobbcollaborative.org.

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