It was another huge volunteer turnout for the Beaches Go Green holiday cleanup at Beaches Town Center: More than 300 volunteers came out for this holiday-themed giveback event.
"These community events are a great opportunity for adults and students of all ages to be social with their friends, give back to the community and earn important community service hours," said Anne Marie Moquin, founder of Beaches Go Green. Student volunteers came from both Duval and St. Johns counties to help clean up. Schools represented were: Atlantic Beach Elementary, Bartram Trail High School, Beachside High School, Creekside High School, Fletcher High School, Fletcher Middle School, Jax Beach Elementary, Mayport Middle School, Nease High School, Ponte Vedra High School, Providence School and more.
Students took advantage of photo opps with the Beaches Go Green's Plastic Monster while learning about plastic pollution. There was also a Giant Cigarette Butt costume from Tobacco Free Jax educating on the dangers of nicotine and the hazards of littering cigarette butts — the No. 1 most littered item on the planet!
More than 38 bags of trash and some large items were collected from the streets, sidewalks, landscape beds and parking lots in Beaches Town Center. More than 12,000 cigarette butts were also collected with the winning team collecting almost 5,000 butts alone. This community cleanup event contributed nearly $20,000 to the beaches' area in volunteer and trash abatement values. The newly elected Atlantic Beach mayor, Curtis Ford, came out and supported the event!
Event and food sponsors included Beaches Dentistry, Surfing Evolution & Preservation foundation, Florida Blue, Edie Williams State Farm, the Local restaurant, Sierra Grill and Donatos pizza.
As always, Beaches Go Green provided prizes for strangest items found and most cigarette butts collected. Prize sponsors: YogaMix, iRocker SUP boards, TrueEast, Southern Grounds, Whits Frozen Custard, Jax Beach Brunch Haus, Natural Life, DORO restaurant, One Ocean hotel, Jaffis, Poe's tavern and Eco-lux skin spa and Tobacco-Free Jax. Southern Swells Brewery saved grain bags for volunteers to repurpose to collect trash.
