As we near the end of the year it has given us the time to reflect on the work we have been able to do and the work we are going to do in the future. The pandemic has shaped our communities and our programs. We did have to turn on our heels quickly to continue working on removing, preventing, and bring awareness of marine debris. Our group sizes reduce dramatically to 10 or less. Masks are required. We invested in more grabbers so our volunteers did not have to touch PPE. Nevertheless, thanks to our volunteers and community partners, we still prevailed in removing thousands of pounds of marine debris from our waterways. Below is a summation of the positive impacts you had this year.
The storm drain marking effort was furthered by a Girl Scout pack in the Beverly community of Toledo. The 16th Get the Lead Program was a success. In total, 17 PCS volunteers and ZooTeens cleaned 131 pounds of trash from the Maumee River. Twenty-seven Clean Your Streams 365 (CYS365) events were held individually or lead by a PCS staff member this year. In total, CYS365 participants cleaned 19.19 miles of local waterways; removing 1,000 pounds of trash! Toledo Metroparks and Northwest Ohio River Runner got out on the water for three events as well and removed 1,150 pounds of trash from two Maumee River Islands and Lower Swan Creek.
Finally, Clean Your Streams 24 was another successful event that had to change rapidly because of the pandemic. We offered a virtual on your own CYS 24 option; which 176 people participated in from September 18th- September 27th. A more traditional CYS 24 was held on September 26th. The safe-distanced in-person event attracted 256 people at 7 different kick-off locations. With over 431 volunteers working in small teams across nearly 80 different locations, together we removed 16,957.11 pounds of trash from our watershed in a week. That is approximately 20,057.3 pounds of trash removed from our waterways by just about 600 volunteers! Thank you to all that showed up to volunteer, donate, or help plan. Your work has been incredible; we are looking forward to next year!
The Annual report for 2019 was postponed due to the pandemic but is available now. Check out last year’s impact here!