Pinellas County - Clearwater Beach - Sand Key - Belleair Shore/Beach
Indian Rocks Beach - Indian Shores - Redington Shores - No. Redington Beach
Redington Beach - Madeira Beach - Treasure Island - St. Pete Beach
Local groups participate in beach cleanup
By Michael Steele
BARRIER ISLANDS – Two local groups with two very different backgrounds took to the beach recently to help clean up from the Labor Day celebrations. The organizations may be dissimilar, but their goals are very much the same. Both are interested in giving back not only to the community and beaches but also want their events to serve as a call to action for the citizenry at large.
A collection of organizers and volunteers from presidential candidate Barack Obama’s campaign office in St. Petersburg traversed Madeira Beach Sept. 1 looking to remove as much garbage as possible while trying to register as many voters as possible.
Three days later, volunteer staff members from the Sirata Beach Resort in St. Pete Beach were no less devoted to cleanup efforts while trying to raise awareness for the Adopt-A-Shore program orchestrated by Keep Pinellas Beautiful, Inc., a local nonprofit organization committed to the protection and maintenance of the county’s environment.
Lavonne Derringer is a Sirata employee and the individual responsible for suggesting the service project for the resort that started monthly garbage sweeps in May. She commented on the importance of giving back to the area. “We love working at the Sirata but we’re proud of the property and we want to keep it clean not just for us but for the community,” she informed.
Volunteers echoed Derringer’s sentiments as they doggedly pursued misplaced waste along a large swath
of St. Pete Beach from the Sirata Resort to the Don Cesar Beach Resort, a distance of approximately 1.5 miles.
These volunteers realized that although they are providing an invaluable service, there is much work to be
done and the problem of waste on the beaches extends far beyond St. Pete Beach. Sirata General Manager Tim Coultas explained that an additional goal would be “to have other people see it and the hope would be that other organizations would get involved with their own part of the beach.”
The Adopt-A-Shore program works much like the Adopt-A-Highway program taking place throughout the
country. The goal is to maintain the quality of the beaches and shorelines by appealing to groups and companies around Pinellas County. Like the Sirata volunteers who carried buckets with the Adopt-A-Shore logo, participants are responsible for a specific track of beach while gaining a little publicity for their parent organizations.
Participant Scott Hall was not shy regarding his praise for the program and his employer. “The nice thing about it is we’re all neighbors. My family comes and uses the beach. This is a familyowned business and it’s not all about profit. It’s nice they give us the opportunity to get out here. They are a nice company to work for,” Hall said. He also explained that as a local economy dependent upon drawing tourists from all over the world, we have a responsibility to keep our beaches beautiful. “If you invite people to a party, you have to clean up afterwards,” he said.
The Sirata takes this ethic seriously and received the “Green Lodging” designation by the Florida Department
of Environmental Protection for its practice of using fewer resources while producing less waste.
Barack Obama’s campaign seemed equally committed to stewardship in the area. Its Madeira Beach cleanup
is but one of several service projects that have taken place throughout the Tampa Bay area. While the group’s primary responsibility is to help bring voters to the candidate’s camp, the scope of the organization apparently extends far beyond that task. Approximately 20 volunteers from all over the area and from groups such as Florida Surfers for Obama and Young Obamacrats United were organized by the campaign office in three, two-hour shifts in order to scour the beach for litter and for unregistered voters.
While the volunteers were covered in campaign shirts, buttons and other memorabilia, the intent was to give
back to the area. Tampa Bay Area Spokesperson Adora Andy explained, “This campaign is not just about political change. It’s about service to the community.” This commitment comes from the top of the campaign and is now a priority for the national campaign staff.
Although the election season is in full swing, Andy explained the event had additional aims. She said the group
hoped to create a “grassroots organization that can survive without the campaign, that it will outlast the campaign.” She went on to say that that this was not simply about the election, but about “neighbor helping neighbor.”
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