Of
course, a well-organized event is only successful if you have community
participation, and this year had another phenomenal turn-out! It seems that
each year, for the 3rd year in a row, I say "It's our largest event
yet," but it's true! With 230-250 volunteers participating this year, I am
sincerely humbled, amazed and inspired by the sheer number of people who care
so much about our town and river that they are willing to donate 3 hours of
their time, on a beautiful Saturday no less, to clean up litter. That effort
equates to over 650 hours of volunteerism for this year's cleanup alone!
And,
our volunteers come from all levels of our community including our elected
officials - State Representatives Herbkersman and Newton, County Councilman
Vaux, Mayor Sulka and Councilman Hamilton; Town staff – Town Manager Anthony
Barrett, Police Chief Reynolds, Capt. Manning, Sergeant Carmany, Officer Lee,
James Ayers, Jeff Wiggins, Andre Coleman, Thomas Grant, Christine Smith, John
Hutchinson, Beth Lewis, Jeremy Ritchie, and Debbie Szpanka; civic groups and
clubs, especially Sun City Kayakers, scout participation and many local school
teachers and children. It was a phenomenal community effort by all that shows
why Bluffton is the heart of the Lowcountry!
As soon as we receive the tonnage report from Waste Management,
we’ll be sure to let you know how much debris you collected. Thank you all
again and we hope to see you on September 20th at 9 AM at Oyster
Factory Park for the 26th Annual Beach Sweep/River Sweep Cleanup
Event!
Thank
you,
Kim Jones
