Coastal Cleanup Brings Out Young & Old Alike

To Remove Litter from our Shores

On Saturday, September 15^th, hundreds and hundreds of volunteers came out to clean the litter from Wakulla County’s shorelines and low-lying areas. Keep Wakulla County Beautiful Site Captains, located at 4 different coastal areas, gave volunteers trash bags, gloves, data cards, pencils, bug spray and sunscreen, and sent them to specific cleanup destinations. 

I’ve never seen so many volunteers; all happy and ready to get hot and dirty. Even the youngest knew why everyone was there. 

“We came to pick up trash,” said one little girl in a pink t-shirt. “We don’t want the animals to eat it!” That’s a pretty good understanding for a young person! 

Sheriff David Harvey was responsible for allowing us Big use of our prisoners.

First, Major Larry Massa acted as Location Chairman. He had prisoners collect picnic tables from other parks and bring them to Wooley Park in Panacea. He had the prisoners erect the huge tent, too.  

On the morning of the Cleanup, Sheriff Office prisoners took cleanup supplies from our KWCB storage shed, and they moved them to the park. All during the day, prisoners stayed with us, completing tasks. They unloaded the trailer, and put food items at the food site.  

They brought cases of t-shirts to the stage, and folded them by size so we could locate them easily. They picked up trash and recycled cans. 

FedEx trucks marked each site, so volunteers would have no problem knowing where to locate us. Each site also sported Keep Wakulla County Beautiful signs, and had at least 2 Site Captains.

Lots of Boy Scouts came to our St. Marks site. They kept Site Captains Hannah and Mike Gale kept busy handing out cleanup paraphernalia and instructions. Hannah and Mike crossed off sections of a master map as they sent off volunteers. 

At our Shell Point Site, Site Captain Paul Johnson said volunteers were “enthusiastic, and they all knew what to do.” 

Site Captain Tina Johnson told us there were people waiting for her when she arrived at Shell Point at 8:00, even though the event was slated to begin at 8:30!  

“The woman from Maclay School, Laurie Jones, helped me get everything out of my car,” Tina said. “She was so organized. Maclay had a large group.” Shell Point resident Gail Campbell had scouted out roads, canals, and fields in this area ahead of the cleanup. She gratefully took the Maclay students and their instructors. “They enjoyed and were fascinated with everything: the fiddler crabs, the pelicans…

They found storm debris on Walker Creek bank, as well as boat seats, helmets, and fluorescent bulbs,” she continued. Gail remembered the first cleanup at Shell Point. “Back then,” she said, “60 people came, bringing their own bags. It was before Keep Wakulla County Beautiful became an organization. They filled 2 dumpsters, going only on Shell Point Road to Spring Creek Highway to Coastal Highway 98.” From that approximately 6.6 miles, they filled 2 dumpsters!

Gail was impressed with the hard work of the Maclay students, and also by 2 young men from the Church of Latter Day Saints. These 2 young men were notable not only for their diligent effort, but for their politeness and good manners as well.

DEP’s Danny Clayton, from the Florida Coastal Management Program, took over the Mashes Sand site once again this year. He too experienced a good turnout; several of whom came from Mashes Sands and Surf Roads themselves. Cheri Albin, also of the FCMP, found plenty of cigarette butts and food wrappers. 

Headquarters was Wooley Park in Panacea. KWCB President Don Henderson showed up first. I had told him the cleanup began at 5:30! Fortunately, he didn’t believe me, but he did beat me to our site by arriving before 7:30. 

Charter KWCB Director Tim Jordan was a Wooley Park Site Captain, as were Phil and Scarlett Patterson.  Phil and Scarlett also helped with the set-up, so they were on site very early. It was Scarlett’s birthday, but she didn’t tell us until the end of the cleanup. Our Directors are very dedicated! 

Patsy Byrd was also a Wooley Park Site Captain, but she arrived a bit later, as I had a special project for her. On Friday, when I gave Mashes Sands Site Captain Danny Clayton his box of cleanup goodies, I forgot to give him bags! No small problem! So, Patsy offered to take them to Mashes Sands, first thing in the morning. 

Other strange finds on Coastal Cleanup day were: a lipstick, drug paraphernalia, barbed wire, underwear, an Asian knife sheath, a welder’s mask, a plastic hot dog and a dead hog.  

By 11:00, we were really hot, sweaty, and hungry! That Embarq luncheon was sounding really good, and we could smell the hot dogs grilling. Tim Jordan and Larry Massa cooked them just as quickly as they were consumed. JoAnne Strickland, our Foods Chairperson, got all the food to the Coastal Cleanup. It was a lot! Ameris Bank supported JoAnne as she purchased the food from several sources and moved it to our party site at Wooley Park in Panacea.

Embarq and its volunteers has Hosted our Coastal Cleanup Luncheon for more than 5 years now. In matching green t-shirts, they set up a tent, put tables under it, and began serving food. Aimee Reed works this kind of event throughout the year for Embarq, so she had everything well organized ‘way before it was needed.  

While our volunteers ate, Scarlett Patterson and I weighed the bags of cigarette butts. Top prize of $100 went to the Sopchoppy United Methodist Church Youth Group. They collected 13 pounds, 6.5 ounces of butts. Second prize went to Sheanna Wight with 3 pounds, 1.5 ounces. Other winners were the Lake Ellen Cleanup volunteers, Girl Scout Troop 757 and Boy Scout Pack 4. Remember, cigarette butts and smoking related activity items are responsible for 44.8% of all Coastal Cleanup items! 

Then Ray Boles appeared on stage and asked all KWCB directors to come to be recognized for all their hard work in putting together another Coastal Cleanup. Committee Leaders: JoAnne Strickland, Amy Geiger, Tina Johnson, Hannah Gale, and Larry Massa had each taken a portion of the Cleanup. They did really good work. The cleanup moved along smoothly.

Ray also wanted to thank Les Marshall for the previous weekend’s underwater cleanup on the Wakulla River. Les coordinated that cleanup, and he was one of the divers, as well. Les has offered to make the underwater cleanup an annual event. On top of having orchestrated that entire event, Les donated a complete scuba certification class to be given away at the Coastal Cleanup. 

Jack Rudloe came on stage and gave a presentation on why, exactly, litter is harmful to marine life. Then, he told everyone present that if they were to bring their Coastal Cleanup sticker to his Gulf Coast Specimen Marine Lab, he would offer free admittance. If you have kept your sticker, it is good for any day the Lab is open.

Finally, Ray and Linda Boles held our exciting Litter Loot Raffle. All volunteers who picked up trash received a raffle ticket. The tickets were placed in our famous Litter Loot jar. Then, Ray and Linda pulled the tickets and gave out envelopes of cash from friends and supporters of Keep Wakulla County Beautiful until all the money was given away. At very last, Ray pulled out a $20 bill. He announced that was his lunch money for the next week, but he was going to give it away! He did, and another winner was thrilled. 

Saturday’s Coastal Cleanup was a marvelous day. We worked hard. An overcast sky helped keep the temperature down somewhat, but it was still tremendously hot. We drank all the waters on the FedEx trucks, and also all the water at our Wooley Park Headquarters. But heat and thirst didn’t dampen anyone’s enthusiasm. People in Wakulla County and the surrounding area believe that removing litter from our roads, coastline, riverbanks, sinkholes, fields and forests is important. Yes, we do.