What Will You Find on Coastal Cleanup Day? Friends

As of this week, Gabrielle Harradine has raised $270 — $70 over her goal — to “help fund the fight” against pollution on Coastal Cleanup Day. Here she details why she’s “friendraising” for Heal the Bay and what she hopes to find on Coastal Cleanup Day.

This coming Coastal Cleanup Day on September 21 will be the first one since we started a family together. We’d done two cleanups with Heal the Bay before we had children. At the earlier cleanups, I remember finding a lot of cigarette butts; followed by small bits of plastic.

Now that my daughter is old enough to be able to really participate and understand what we are doing, I am looking forward to seeing her enthusiasm. She learned about trash in the oceans at Heal the Bay’s Aquarium in Santa Monica, so Coastal Cleanup Day will be a good follow up. 

The response to our fundraising has been exciting and much better than I expected! (Although we do have lots of beach loving friends and family.) A lot of people want to help; it’s just a matter of putting it in front of them so they can respond.

On September 21, I expect to find a group of like-minded people slugging through the sand for any bits of trash. Hopefully, we’ll get to see some thankful breaching dolphins from the shore!

— Gabrielle Harradine

What will YOU find on Coastal Cleanup Day?

Join the biggest volunteer action on the planet, Coastal Cleanup Day, on Saturday, September 21, 2013 from 9 a.m. to noon. Share your personal cleanup discoveries using Twitter, Facebook or Instagram with the hashtag #whatwillyoufind. Past volunteers have found love and a hundred dollar bill!

Anyone can create a fundraising page to support the effort to protect our local natural resources. Volunteers who raise $100 or more receive a Heal the Bay T-shirt.

Gabrielle Harradine sails the Bay.