Volunteers scour beach for 20th annual Great American Cleanup
So long, litter.
Lee County residents and volunteers spent Saturday morning filling up trash bags for the 20th annual Great American Cleanup, organized by Keep Lee County Beautiful.
Also called the Earth Day Trash Bash, the morning ended with a county-wide weigh-in of 18,635 pounds of trash collected by 885 county residents across 36 locations, according to a press release.
“While that may seem like a tremendous amount, it is only 10% of what was be cleaned in the early 90’s,” said Keep Lee County Beautiful, Inc. Executive Director Trish Fancher, “we are making progress.”
Every year, the Fort Myers Beach Community Foundation helps coordinate the beach cleanup rendezvous point at Fort Myers Beach Elementary. The Foundation helps everyone sign up for locations throughout Fort Myers Beach, hands out supplies and offers snacks for hungry volunteers.
Corri Francisco said there were more than 150 volunteers on the beach, and they nearly filled a large Dumpster.
The volunteerism didn’t stop with debris.
At Koreshan State Park, a youth group of 58 painted a building, removed exotic plans, cleaned the Estero River and planted 40 new shrubs for the park. At the Edison & Ford Winter Estates, more than 50 volunteers helped plant new trees to replace some of those destroyed during Hurricane Irma, the press release stated.
To learn more about how you can get involved with similar KLCB projects visit www.klcb.org or call 239-334-3488.