The Euclid Beach Adopt-a-Beach Team one year later
If you did not know already, Adopt-a-Beach™ has a volunteer team at Euclid Beach State Park and during the past year, we have collected well over 700 pounds of trash. If you are not familiar, Adopt-a-Beach is a volunteer organization and partner of the Alliance for The Great Lakes, a Chicago based non-profit dedicated to sustaining and improving the health of our lakes and beaches. Each month (excluding December, January, February) our team conducts beach cleanups and monitors bacteria counts.
The word team is used lightly because volunteering is open to anyone and everyone! Past cleanups have included volunteers from area colleges and universities, local high schools, neighborhood nonprofits, neighborhood businesses and residents. As we close this beach cleanup season and prepare for the spring/summer/fall 2011 season, it is important to recap some of our projects and partnerships formed during this past year. Since we started our beach cleanups in fall 2009, The Euclid Beach Adopt-a-Beach Team has:
- Conducted 11 beach cleanups, collecting over 700 pounds of trash and recyclables with a total volunteer hours per person count of 600 service hours!
- Supported Councilman Polensek’s plan to begin discussion of a Cleveland Metroparks lakefront park acquisition process via a letter writing and signatures campaign.
- Collaborated with neighborhood nonprofits like Arts Collinwood to incorporate a beach cleanup with a recreational all-day event that attracted several hundred visitors to Euclid Beach park.
- Attended community block watch meetings and Northeast Shores quarterly meetings to encourage neighborhood participation.
- Used City Works grant funding to purchase cleaning tools and to landscape and trim back overgrowth throughout the park.
- Secured partnerships with local businesses to make available beach cleanup information to customers but also, to help raise donations.
- Raised donations and secured grant funding to purchase 6 new beach side closed-lid and anchored trash and recycling bins to be installed early next spring.
As we begin our next cleanup season, it is important to continue our commitment to communicating and developing neighborhood initiatives that focus on:
- Improving the quality and appearance of Euclid Beach Park through continued monthly cleanups, targeting pollution sources and community-based project input.
- Encouraging awareness and stewardship of the beachfront and Lake Erie through increased outreach and education.
- Fostering partnerships and capacity building between volunteers, residents, community businesses, nonprofits and the Lakefront State Park.
Euclid Beach is everyone’s park but it belongs especially to the community. We believe that there is a collective desire in the community to make Euclid Beach, as well as Villa Angela and Wildwood parks cleaner and safer public spaces for both recreation and preservation. The Euclid Beach Adopt-a-Beach Team wants to help make that desire a reality. A better quality park translates into a better quality of life for neighborhood residents and the community as a whole, making Euclid Beach Park an asset for years to come! To quote one of our community volunteers, “Keeping the beach clean not only positively impacts the quality of the lake water and the cleanliness of the beach but also displays a sense of pride and stewardship to the people who enjoy the lakefront experience.”
Thank you for reading and we look forward to seeing you at Euclid Beach!
-The Euclid Beach Adopt-a-Beach Team
Be sure to check the Observer’s calendar for our first beach cleanup in March 2011.
* If you are interested in being added to our volunteer e-mailing list or if you would just like to request more information, contact Stephen Love at slove@mail.bw.edu or call 216-571-0685.
*You can also visit our facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Euclid-Beach-Adopt-a-Beach-Team/110703672309610