THOMASVILLE — At five dozen sites, hundreds of volunteers got their brows sweaty and their hands dirty for Saturday’s annual Hands On Thomas County Day.

The usual celebration for the volunteers was held Saturday at Cherokee Park, but there was nothing usual about the day or the event, according to Hands On Thomas County Executive Director Angelia Kiminas.

“The thing that was interesting about this Hands On Thomas County Day is it turned into Hands On Thomas County Week,” she said. “We had 10 sites that volunteers went to Monday, Wednesday and Thursday. So we had people going out all week and doing great things.”

That there was a Hands On Thomas County Day on Saturday was not a given, either, after Hurricane Michael. The hurricane tore through southwest Georgia 10 days before the hundreds of volunteers scattered throughout the community.

“We came into Thomasville, into our office Friday morning, right after the hurricane,” Kiminas said, “and we had no idea what was going to be going on and we were just hoping for the best. We started calling our partner agencies, to check on them and make sure they were OK and see what they were thinking. We were going to have to either cancel or move forward. There’s no rescheduling a day this big.”

The agencies reported to Kiminas that they were in good shape and if the HOTC volunteers were still up for it, so were the agencies. 

“So Monday, we started reaching out to our volunteer groups, and our volunteer groups were like, ‘heck yeah, let’s do this,’” Kiminas said. “So the whole week we were reconnecting everybody and making sure everybody was good.

“I know I feel this way, we’re so thankful we didn’t see the worst of Hurricane Michael,” she added. “We were really fortunate we came through so well. I feel kind of blessed and I think everybody does, and they were like, ‘life’s good, let’s do the good things we’re supposed to do because we can.’”

For years Granddaddy’s Barbecue had furnished lunch to the volunteers once their work was done. When that business closed recently, another eatery stepped up and Dog World came out to feed the volunteers.

There were a couple of cancellations, but for the most part, Kiminas said, people were excited about coming out to volunteer.

“We think that’s an amazing testament to our community, that people can go through all that and still come out and help others,” she said.

Editor Pat Donahue can be reached at (229) 226-2400 ext. 1806.