MEGA Trash Cleanup Attracts 200 Volunteers
Our MEGA Trash Cleanup #cleanjordanlake attracted a MEGA crowd of volunteers on a spectacular Fall day. We registered about 190 and there were at least 10 more that didn't come to our table. There were families, high school and middle school students, and a couple of generations of adults! They worked on land and water. Seven brought boats, a kayak and even a canoe.
About 1.1 miles of shoreline were returned to natural beauty including along a spectacular grove of cypress trees . 285 big bags and 23 tires plus an array of 34 miscellaneous items too big to fit in bags were removed.
It was a fun event. Five of our six Trash Treasure Hunt items were redeemed for merchandise prizes. Some volunteers enjoyed boat ferrying to trash spots. The most unusual find was miniature, styrofoam horse . Ambitious youth climbed a tree (two photos) to recover a ripped apart trash bag that was once full but had been carried last year from a prior upwind cleanup spot to this location by a rise of 17 ft in lake level, accounting for its perch high up in a tree!
We cannot accomplish any of this without additional donated time and services from businesses and government.
A Syngenta Community Grant funded publicity and supplies. Randy Johnson, owner of Jordan Lake Journeys #jordanlakejourneys has become a good friend of Clean Jordan Lake. Trash and volunteers were hauled in his beautiful pontoon boat that he operates commercially for enjoyable tours of the lake. Crosswinds Marina donated use of a pontoon boat for the day.
Four staff from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers offloaded trash and tires onto their dock off Jordan Dam Rd. and provided a pontoon boat for ferrying around the cleanup site and back to the dock. A dumpster was donated by Chatham County and the tipping fee was waived, too.
We've now surpassed 1100 members in meetup.com/helpcleanjordanlake. We cite here a few of our many devoted followers. Doug Roach, who contributed the beautiful photo of cypress trees on shoreline, holds the record with participation in 15 cleanups in his little kayak. Dan Brubaker is close behind ferrying trash and tires in 12 cleanups in his boat. Carl Fisher has been on the shoreline in 11 cleanups and his leadership in organizing our MEGA Trash Cleanup is most appreciated.
Improving environmental stewardship is our lofty goal. We've used thousands of words to write about why this is important. But the work of volunteers speaks LOUDER. We're so pleased that you WALK THE TALK!