Set for next Saturday, May 18 is a beach cleanup event at Rocky Gap Beach, organized by the Rotary Club of St. Joseph-Benton Harbor.
The Rotary’s Jennifer Zerrenner tells us she wanted to start a beach cleanup, believing such a project would be in line with the Rotary’s mission.
“The Alliance for the Great Lakes is who we’re partnering with, and their aim is to clean up the Great Lakes and make them beautiful and try to get rid of as much pollution as we can, but also to track the source of it as well,” Zerrenner said. “We know that some trash washes up on the beach, sometimes the trash winds up there from people throwing it on the beach instead of trash cans. So they have a lot of data scientists over at the Alliance that find out all this information and learn how to stop pollution and make our beaches beautiful.”
They’ll log the trash they pick up so the Alliance for the Great Lakes can use the information in its research.
Zerrenner says she picked Rocky Gap because it didn’t already have a beach cleanup scheduled.
Anyone can stop by and help out next Saturday. The event will run from 1 to 4 p.m. and registrations can be done on site. Children can also help, as long as they’re with a guardian. Zerrenner says even if you can only stop by for 15 minutes, you’d be helping.
