Georgia Power is continuing its partnership with Friends of Georgia State Parks & Historic Sites through volunteer efforts and funding aimed at supporting state parks and improving accessibility for visitors.
The utility is expected to send hundreds of employees to Georgia state parks on Saturday, September 26, for Your State Parks Day, an annual volunteer event organized by Friends in connection with National Public Lands Day. The event will focus on cleanup, beautification, and maintenance projects at participating parks. Members of the public can also participate in local volunteer activities, with registration and event information available through Friends.
For outdoor hospitality operators, the initiative highlights the role that park maintenance, accessibility improvements, and community partnerships can play in supporting destinations that attract visitors to surrounding areas. State parks can also contribute to regional tourism activity, creating visitor flows that may benefit campgrounds, RV parks, lodging providers, and other recreation businesses nearby.
Alongside the volunteer program, Georgia Power is providing $10,000 to support Friends’ Georgia in Color fundraising initiative. The program aims to place EnChroma color accessibility glasses at Georgia State Parks for visitors to use. The glasses are designed with specialized optical filters intended to enhance color contrast for people with certain forms of color vision deficiency, potentially making natural features such as fall foliage, wildflowers, and landscapes easier to distinguish.
The latest contribution follows a $25,000 donation from Georgia Power in late 2025 to help develop the Georgia in Color program. The company has also previously worked with the Aimee Copeland Foundation to place all-terrain Trackchairs at Georgia State Parks for visitor use.
“Georgia’s state parks are a tremendous natural resource and asset for our state, driving travel and tourism for local communities and hosting millions of visitors each year,” said Trey Kilpatrick, senior vice president of External Affairs, in a press release.
“At Georgia Power, we’re committed to making our communities better because we are here. We’re excited to help more visitors enjoy a full experience through the Georgia in Color initiative, and to continue to partner with Friends of Georgia State Parks to protect and care for these special places so they can be enjoyed by Georgians and visitors from around the world for generations to come.”
“Georgia in Color is about helping more visitors fully experience the natural beauty of Georgia’s state parks,” said Damon Kirkpatrick, president and CEO of Friends of Georgia State Parks & Historic Sites. “Georgia Power’s generous investment in this initiative, together with the hands-on service of its volunteers, demonstrates a meaningful commitment to making these treasured places more accessible, welcoming, and enjoyable for everyone.”
Friends of Georgia State Parks & Historic Sites supports Georgia’s state parks and historic sites through fundraising, advocacy, volunteer activities, and local projects. The organization has more than 50 chapters statewide, which work with individual sites and contribute volunteer hours toward projects and programs.
The September 26 Your State Parks Day activities provide an opportunity for the organization and its corporate partners to address park maintenance while engaging local communities.
For businesses operating in the outdoor hospitality sector, such efforts can also illustrate the broader tourism ecosystem surrounding public recreation areas, where investments in visitor access and site conditions can influence how people experience destinations and the communities around them.
