ATHENS, Ga. -- Hill Chapel Baptist Church made $500 Saturday night - in 32 minutes.

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A few dozen members of the church off West Broad Street came to Sanford Stadium to pick up recyclables left in the stands, work that will give them money for missions, while keeping pounds and pounds of plastic out of the Athens-Clarke landfill.

"We have an ecological responsibility. God expects us to do our part," pastor Michael Gerald said as he worked his way along a row of bleachers in the eastern upper deck.

The church will earn $3,000 working all six home games and will use the money for a program to keep boys in school and to stock the church's food pantry.

The University of Georgia Athletic Association will spend $30,000 this year on the Game Day Recycling Initiative, doling out $500 per home football game to 10 different nonprofit groups.

Each group commits to bring at least 20 people to don plastic gloves and pick up all the plastic bottles from their designated sections of the stadium.

As the sun set Saturday night, volunteers gathered at the field-level entrance to Sanford Stadium, where Bulldog players parade through a crowd of fans each home game for the Dawg Walk.

"This is our recycling walk," said Melvin Robinson Jr., the facilities operations manager for the Athletic Association. "We won't have a band or a crowd. ... Maybe one day."

The volunteers - including Arthur Johnson, the associate athletic director for Internal Operations, and his wife - gave up an hour of their Saturday evening to collect the recyclables before professionals with American Stadium Services arrived Sunday morning. The private company is in charge of the massive job of returning the stadium and campus to pristine condition in only a few hours after 92,000 fans leave.

"We didn't want to get in their way. They've got a big job to do," Robinson said. "For their staff and for the time period, if they (sorted recyclables), they would have to have three or four shifts."

If the project works in Sanford, the Athletic Association will expand it to Stegeman Coliseum and Foley Field, Robinson said.

"We really want to promote recycling across all the facilities, but thought, 'We will start in the bowl. We know we can control the bowl,' " Robinson said.

"It's our way to help the community, without just giving away the money," he said. "They've actually got to get out and earn it. If you give out money, how do you decide who gets it? There are so many deserving organizations in this community, so how do you pick which is more worthy?"

Volunteers go through a short training session before they begin the sticky job of draining and bagging bottles.

For night games, they will come to the stadium at dawn the following Sunday.

The inconvenience is worth it, said Emily Bailey, director of All God's Children, an organization that supports adoption for special-needs or older children.

"It's a very hard time to be a nonprofit, and here came an opportunity for more funding. Plus, it's a volunteering opportunity that kids can do," she said.

This week, Athens-Clarke recycling workers will use a formula to estimate how many bottles were collected.

"We filled a 40-yard (roll-off container) to the rim," Robinson said. "Think about 40 yards of plastic that is not going to the landfill."