This past week has been pretty productive in terms of clean ups.

Saturday, August 1st, we helped a Brookdale faculty member, Kathleen Devine, and her students, organize and participate in a beach sweep at Sandy Hook. We cleaned for over an hour and got rid of a lot of the excess waste unfortunately left behind by many beach-goers.

Not only did the participating volunteers understand the importance of keeping the beach clean, as well as the entire ecosystem, many people who were already on the beach that day were turning their heads and noticing that we were cleaning up trash. Perhaps those people are now more aware of their own waste and more conscious of what they do with it.

Thursday, August 6th, was our Brookdale Campus Cleanup. Although it was a rainy morning, we still had a good handful of volunteers come out. Some included a girl scout troop from Middletown that our education interns have been working with, members of the Honors Society at Brookdale, and a few St. John Vianney High School students. Linda Mass, director of experiential learning and career services, also an AmeriCorps commissioner, was happy to speak to volunteers about the importance of volunteer service and keeping New Jersey's waterways clean. Rich Frank, executive director of facilities on the Brookdale Campus, and Assemblyman Samuel Thompson, also said some words regarding the importance of keeping the Navesink Swimming River Reservoir clean. Volunteers cleaned for about an hour and a half, and were then given lunch and a free performance from singer songwriter, Mimi Cross, who is also performing at the Clearwater Festival in Asbury Park this Saturday.

Saturday, August 8th, as part of River Palooza, a cleanup was organized at Natco Lake. Christian Rathbone, another summer intern, was able to get a solid volunteer group of about 20 people to help clean. The area was filled with trash and we were able to clean up a lot of it. Although the summer iswinding down, we hope to organize another cleanup for the end of August at Poricy Park. Our Earth Day event was there but there is still garbage in anarea that used to be a farmer's dump site. Through these cleanups, we have been able to not only clean up trash, but spread the message of keeping New Jersey's waterways clean.