PICKENS ─ Owners, management, staff and residents of the Cliffs Communities have three main goals when it comes to being good stewards in the community, according to one of their officials.

Rick Fisher, Foundation Director of the group of gated communities, visited the Pickens Rotary Club last Wednesday, and said those associated with the Cliffs work hard to promote health and wellness, good environmental and conservation policies an giving back.

He said Cliffs owner Jim Anthony has been talking with the state Nature Conservancy, as well as other property owners along Scenic Highway 11, to try to create a development-free buffer on both sides of the road.

He also said Anthony is donating four tracts of land he owns near or within the Jocassee Gorges to other groups who will use the land responsibly. Currently, one tract, on U.S. 178 near Rocky Bottom is being donated to the Clemson Youth Learning Institute.

The Cliffs also turned over its ZestQuest program, which promotes a healthy lifestyle in students, to the YLU, Fisher said.

Fisher also emphasized that organization, its residents and employees all spend a lot of time reaching out within the Pickens County communities, helping with charities and other non-profits, such as MARY’S House, the Free Health Clinic, Home for Hope and Meals on Wheels, to name a few.

The Cliffs Residence Outreach has adopted five schools in the Upstate, including Holly Springs, and one of their primary efforts is to provide less fortunate children with food to eat on weekends.

With the help of teachers, students in need are identified, residents pack a special backpack with healthy foods, and the teacher gives the backpack to the child to take home for the weekend, Fisher said.

Last year, he said he stopped counting when the group had reached 35,000 hours in community service “outside the gates.”

Employees also have an outreach program and help with charities as well, he said.