Tuesday, October 14, 2008

September Summary - It doesn't Get More Exciting Than This...


Beach Master in the News...Local Man Adopts a Beach and Saves a Life...
Yep - that's our very own Mark Aubrey (aka Beach Master) making headlines. This time, it is not for his extraordinary dedication to the Adopt a Beach program (for which he has long been our hero). This time he really outdid himself. It seems that being a record breaking clean up legend on the Adopt a Beach team is no longer enough for him. Oh no. (Head shake) Now he has to go off jumping into the water and saving people. Way to raise the bar Beach Master. How can the rest of us mere mortals ever live up to that? Ha. Seriously, we couldn't be more proud of you Mark. You never cease to amaze us - and that is just the way we like it! (Big Smile)

The story was picked up by the OC Register with favorite local reporter Fred Swegles providing the scoop and Paul Bersebach snapping the awesome photos. (Thumbs Up)
Here is the link in case you missed it: http://www.ocregister.com/articles/aubrey-beach-cane-2192212-water-went



The September Data Is In!

There were 12 teams this month who were walking the walk and not just talking the talk. And in the process of walking, managed to pick up a lot of junk from the beach and trail. Thanks to these hard working folks, we can proudly proclaim that for the sixth month in a row every stretch of beach has been cleaned at least twice. Awesome Awesome Awesome. Thank you Thank you Thank you.

To see the September Beach cleanup summary
click here.


September Fundraising

The live Art Auction was a blast. When I wasn't drooling (figuratively/not literally!) over the donated treasures or rubbing elbows with artists and art lovers in the community I did my part by keeping the wine flowing. (To the wine glasses of the attendees glasses not my own!) Fun Fun Fun. I spotted members from the following Adopt a Beach teams bidding away - Historical Society, Sunrise Rotary Club, City Council, Judy Jones for Assembly, and probably many others of you were there too. I was too busy to do any bidding myself but luckily Vernon arrived in the nick of time with the checkbook. We now have two of Jim Proett's masterpieces hanging on display in our home. According to Nanci Mavar, the event netted $4,200 for the Watershed Task force. (Cha ching!) I'm including the link so you can read the full write up, including the list of artists who donated their work. In return, please repay the favor whenever you can by supporting our local artists. Check it out...http://www.ocregister.com/articles/art-san-clemente-2194053-gallery-force


Just today, I heard through the grapevine (hint: Nanci Mavar) that Mary Vondrak with the City of San Clemente Environmental Programs Department has secured a grant that will provide an additional $3,000 to support clean ocean efforts. (cartwheels). Lookin' good on the fundraising front.


AT Last...Smoking Banned on the Trail

Great news - on September 29th a new law went into effect banning smoking on all municipal trails. Hopefully that will translate to fewer cigarette butts showing up in our our bags and buckets. Depending, of course, on how well it gets enforced. Anyway, it's a start! Thanks to all of you who have been consistently counting, logging and sending in the data from your cleanups. This is the kind of hard data that gets considered when making public policy. Good incentive to keep those data sheets and your comments and suggestions coming to me. Sometimes it takes awhile, but this is a real relevant current example of how we can influence change. Kudos to the City Council. And Kudos to You - all the Adopt a Beach teams out doing the work. I'm learning that activism isn't always loud and bigger than life. In fact, a lot of the time it is subtle and behind the scenes and involves getting your hands (or in our case gloves) dirty. And it is frequently tedious work - like counting cigarette butts or adding up data from a stack of faxed in data sheets. But it is powerful and important. It helps to remember that.


I have the link to that news article too - here it is for your reading pleasure: http://www.ocregister.com/articles/row-trails-san-2168687-smoking-clemente


California Coastal Cleanup

This was also the month for the annual coastal cleanup. Even though it was the morning after the art auction (and required getting up early on a Saturday- groan) I couldn't miss that one! And I'm sure glad I didn't. Danna McIntosh, Mary Vondrak, Bill Hart and I teamed up to sign in volunteers, issue cleaning materials, supply refreshments, and answer questions. We also laughed a lot. If you know these guys you understand what I am talking about. Among the many volunteers who showed up, I recognized some familiar faces from our Adopt a Beach family including Kristi Kindred and members of her group from the Sunrise Rotary Club. All in all, volunteers bagged up over 345 pounds of litter including 70 pounds of recyclables. Impressive! Of course what would be even more impressive is if we could keep this stuff from getting on the beach in the first place!

Check out Danna's article in the OC Register: http://www.ocregister.com/articles/san-clemente-pounds-2166823

On a related note, Mary Vondrak forwarded the tally sheet so I could include it in the blog. To see the results from the annual Coastal Cleanup day click here.

Whew! September was a news filled month for the Adopt a Beach program. Now I wonder what delights October will bring? Stay tuned...

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