The Great Island Clean-Up is coming!

This is going to be great – hope you have time to help! I know I’m gonna sign up for a shift – here’s the deal from Lori & Stephanie:

Plan to be a part of the Great Island Clean-Up!!

• When? Saturday, April 9, any time between 10 am and 2 pm
• Where? All San Juan Island roadsides and beaches
• Rain or shine!

Working together, we can really clean up the island!

You’ve probably noticed if you’ve been out walking or biking that there’s a lot of litter along the island’s roadsides and on our beautiful beaches too.  Despite the efforts of many islanders who have adopted specific stretches of roads or beaches and regularly pick up litter there, thoughtless people are still tossing beer and/or soda cans and bottles, cigarette butts, food wrappings, and a variety of other things as they drive, bike or walk by.  And drivers with unsecured loads are contributing to the mess by allowing things to blow out of the back of their pick-up trucks (lots of Styrofoam pellets end up as litter this way).

Multiple organizations – including the Soroptimists, Lions, Kiwanis, Rotarians, Chamber of Commerce, Friends of the San Juans, and Boy and Girl Scouts – are collaborating to sponsor the Great Island Clean-Up, a day when all able-bodied islanders are encouraged to help pick up the accumulated trash so that residents and visitors alike are treated to a litter-free island when warmer and sunnier weather beckons us all outdoors.

Come to the Market Place any time between April 1-8 to sign up for the section of road or beach that you’d like to clean. If you would prefer to work with a group that has already adopted a particular area, you can sign up for that instead. If you can’t sign up in person, contact Lori Stokes at 378-4643 or loristokes3 (at) gmail.com to reserve the area you wish to clean.

Litter-picker-uppers will need to provide their own supplies, but both Ace Hardware and Browne’s Home Center have offered to help out. Ace is offering a Great Island Clean-Up Special for $14.99, which includes a grabber, a vest, and three garbage bags. And Browne’s will be handing out free disposable gloves, plus giving a 25% discount on biodegradable trash bags.

Picking up litter in small groups is much more fun, and also a great deal safer.  So gather some friends or family members and make a party out of it!  And if you’re not a litter-picker-upper that day but are out and about in your car, please be cautious and keep an eye out so that those who are working can do so in relative safety; many of our roadsides lack shoulders and good sight lines.

For more information about the event, contact Stephanie Prima-Sarantopulos at 378-2783, or Stephanie (at) tuckerhouse.com.

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