Wow! What an Amazing Weekend For the Earth

Apr. 18, 2016 — Heal the Bay is still feeling the stoke from Saturday’s Earth Month Extravaganza, which saw over 2,000 volunteers and ocean-lovers descend on Santa Monica Beach and our Aquarium to participate in the festivities.

Drum roll, please: Over 1,900 volunteers participated in our Earth Month Nothin’ But Sand beach cleanup this past Saturday, hauling in nearly 500 lbs. of ocean-bound trash! That’s a quarter-ton less trash polluting our coast, fouling our marine habitats, and harming wildlife. It was a tremendously good turnout for a hot day, and we’re incredibly grateful to everyone who showed up early on a Saturday morning to join us.

We’re also grateful for our partners who made the day possible. After all, it wasn’t just a beach cleanup, but a whole day of festivities, including free yoga, surf lessons, public programs at the Aquarium, and a sandcastle-building competition!

CorePower Yoga for providing free yoga on the beach and some great monthly passes
YogaSmoga for donating yoga apparel gift certificates
AquaSurf for providing free surf lessons
Starbucks for providing free coffee in reusable mugs
The North Face for bringing lots of volunteers and schlepping tons of stuff
HOK Product Design for facilitating the Sandcastle Competition
Montalba Architects, Tangram Interiors, DPR Construction, and Syska and Hennessy for building incredible sandcastles
Nicci Solomons, Justin Grant, and Bruna Schmitz for serving as our celebrity sandcastle judges
The Sock Panda (aka Jonathan Howard and Charlene Mayo) for donating fun socks to Aquarium visitors

As Earth Month winds down, we’d like to take a moment to reflect on all that we achieved in the last thirty days. Heal the Bay held over 30 outreach events, impacting communities all over Los Angeles including:

Additionally, our Speakers Bureau held 34 lectures and there were 5 Corporate Healer Beach Cleanups! And we’ve added more than 750 pledges to uphold the Plastic Bag Ban! Much thanks to everyone for making this month such a success!

Thank you, everyone, and happy Earth Month to all!