FMB Pilots deems coastal cleanup a success
The 21st annual Earth Day Trash Bash was called a success from the Fort Myers Beach Pilot Club, the event co-coordinator with Keep Lee County Beautiful.
Students from the Beach Elementary School and their families represented the largest group of participants in this year’s Earth Day Trash Bash. There were approximate 75 volunteers including several students from Fort Myers High School, adults from the area, and a group from KONE Elevators and Escalators.
Workers reported in at 9 a.m. where they were assigned their clean up area by Alicia Steinhagen, chairperson, and picked up their gloves and plastic garbage bags. Assignments were made from Bowditch Point all the way to the south end of the island. At 11:30 a.m. volunteers returned to deposit their litter and were rewarded with soft drinks or water and pizza.
Dawson LaForce, dad Bob LaForce and Dylan LaForce were awarded a certificate donated by Steve DeAngelis, Manager of Yucatan Beach Stand, for bringing in the most unusual items. They included a damaged inflatable dinghy, a sleeping bag, and miscellaneous other items. The La Force team has been recognized for several years in a row for their great assortment and quantity of discarded “treasurers” collected at the Earth Day Trash Bash.
Beach Elementary School students who participated will be rewarded with an ice cream party at the school on Monday, April 26.
Donating sponsors were Pepsi South, Wal-Mart, Glad ForceFlex trash bags, Waste Pro, Veolia Environmental Services, Inc., Waste Management, Topps Supermarket and Pietro’s Pizzeria. The spring Earth Day Trash Bash and Fall Coastal Cleanup have been annual projects of the Pilot Club since it’s inception in 1985.