Jerry Griffin has been a long standing member and officer of the Appalachian Paddling Enthusiasts for over two decades. His humble demeanor and servant’s heart has been a shining example to our local paddling community. He is always one of the first to step up to help with a river access project, river cleanup or guide a beginner/intermediate paddler down a local river and plays a key role in providing volunteer labor and equipment for many local river access projects. He has helped to spearhead projects with federal agencies, municipalities, businesses and land owners to improve many existing river access locations and develop new sites.
As an instrumental part of local river cleanups, Jerry usually handles the logistics of organizing the trash pickup along the river with his truck making many trips back & forth, following volunteers alongside the river grabbing all the trash they throw up on the bank roadside. Many partner affiliate clubs have been grateful for his support and hard work in these cleanup efforts.
As Volunteer of the Month, Kokatat will be hooking up Jerry with some world class gear, and we hope you’ll extend Jerry a hearty thank you when you see him on the river.
Photo by Whitney Eure