BLAIR RILEY

Blair became interested in volunteerism and leadership as a senior in high school when she was selected to represent her local National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA). She was then selected to represent Georgia on the National Youth Leadership Council (NYLC) and became the first alternate to the NYLC spokesperson. While in this position, Blair traveled extensively throughout Georgia and other states to promote this program and represent young people across the country. She has volunteered with the NRECA’s Youth Tour for six years as a participant and as a volunteer staff member. Today, Blair still works to develop youth leaders by promoting the importance of volunteer service.

Throughout her college career, Blair has been involved in many volunteer and leadership organizations. As a 4-year member of the University Honors Program, she was required to complete 50 hours of community service for her first two years in the program. Blair far exceeded the required 50 hours. She worked with the Ronald McDonald House Charities by implementing a variety of service projects for the charity. She also volunteered at the Sallie Zetterower Elementary School, where she helped develop a more effective character education program. She designed a school bulletin board that highlighted character education theme and created and organized a “Character Education Library” that contained books for checkout. For this project, she was awarded the Georgia Southern University Honors Program Community Service Award.

When Blair’s grandmother came to live with her and her family, Blair’s realized that her county did not provide 911 services to its residents. She developed a program to help remedy this problem, (B.E.S.A.F.E.) Best Efforts in Spreading Awareness Facts and Education. This program was largely successful and in 2004, legislation was passed to mandate access to 911 systems in every Georgia County. While implementing this program, Blair became a volunteer for the American Red Cross and the U.S. Citizen Corp. and worked with local emergency response agencies to increase preparedness and with all age groups to stress the importance of disaster preparedness/response.

As a registered volunteer with Georgia Southern University’s Office of Volunteer Service and a registered volunteer with U.S. Freedom Corps., Blair has been recognized numerous times for her contributions in volunteer services. She has received the GSU Leadership/Service Award, the UHP Outstanding Community Servant Award, the prestigious Macon Telegraph Golden Eagle Award in the area of citizenship and Who’s Who’s Among American Colleges and Universities.

Blair’s most recent volunteer and fundraising efforts have benefited the Alzheimer’s’ Association. She is currently working with a local Georgia state representative to design a license plate for the state of Georgia that will raise funds for Alzheimer’s disease research and programs. Teaming with local chapters of the Alzheimer’s’ Association, Blair hopes to increase participation in fundraisers one in particular Memory Walk, raise awareness about the Maintain Your Brain campaign and promote the goals and ideas of the Alzheimer’s Association.