Thank You Thursday – 4.11.13

At Heal the Bay we celebrate Earth Day all month long. (Actually, all year long, but who’s counting?)

Throughout the month of April, you’ll probably see us out in the community at Earth Day events all across Los Angeles. We couldn’t possibly fulfill all of the requests we receive from schools, companies and community groups without our Speakers Bureau volunteers, who pitch in to help us spread our message.

We’d like to take this opportunity to congratulate our winter graduating class of Speakers! They devoted three afternoons and one morning to learning about water pollution and solutions and are now trained to answer questions about our work to improve the Santa Monica Bay. An extra big thanks to the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority (MRCA) for allowing us to use their beautiful space at the Los Angeles River Center to host our training. If you haven’t visited the L.A. River Center yet, you should definitely go check out this hidden urban gem!

The Los Angeles Lakers tipped off Earth Month by joining us for a beach cleanup at Dockweiler. As if helping us remove 66 pounds weren’t enough, we also received a Lakers Eco All-Star award from East West Bank. We are grateful for the recognition and for the opportunity to share our Earth-friendly message with Laker fans before the game on April 12 at L.A. Live. (Hockey fans: Look for us on April 13 before the Kings game!)

Not to be outdone, Fox Corp. Broadcasting beach cleanupers were small in number, but mighty, with 20 people picking up nearly 100 pounds of trash near the Santa Monica Pier! That’s including the remnants of a romantic interlude with 97 candles and red roses and 2.5 feet worth of cigarette butts (ew!). The week before, Blackstone Consulting brought 22 people to the beach in Santa Monica, removing 42.5 pounds of debris.

Fox is also donating items to the silent auction at our upcoming Bring Back the Beach gala on May 16. Thank you, Fox!

And, as the weather warms, it’s time to start checking the Beach Report Card to make sure the water at your favorite beach is safe, healthy and clean. We thank simplehuman for its longtime support of this public health tool.

Find an Earth Month opportunity near you.

Learn how to take your love of the Earth to the next level, by volunteering with Heal the Bay throughout the year.