Groups of volunteers from SUNY Fredonia will lead beach cleanups at Point Gratiot and Wright Park in Dunkirk on Sunday, Sept. 22, from noon to 2:30 p.m., as part of the Ocean Conservancy’s 28th International Coastal Cleanup Campaign. This is a rescheduled date due to a severe weather forecast for Sept. 21.
SUNY Fredonia’s Academic Community Engagement (FACE) Center is directing the cleanup with assistance from the New York branch of the American Littoral Society and SUNY Fredonia’s Sustainability Committee and Office of Volunteer and Community Services.
Students in need of transportation or wishing to carpool to the beaches are asked to meet at the Fenton Hall parking lot at 11:30 a.m.; other volunteers should gather at noon at the Wright Park parking lot or the Point Gratiot parking lot, which is across from the metal stairs that descend to the beach, for a brief orientation.
Gloves, garbage bags and Ocean Conservancy materials will be provided, though volunteers are encouraged to reuse plastic shopping bags for trash collection and to bring their own work gloves, if possible. Volunteers should also bring a reusable water bottle, sunscreen and appropriate footwear.
Beginning at 1 p.m., volunteers will begin to sort, weigh and catalog the debris they collect. Results from the cleanup will be reported to the American Littoral Society and the Ocean Conservancy.
For more information about the event, contact Christina Jarvis at jarvisc@fredonia.edu.
At last year’s beach cleanup, 97 student and community volunteers gathered just over 850 pounds of trash at the two parks. Across the state, 5,645 volunteers cleared more than 244 miles of beaches, documenting and removing 62,633 pounds of trash from along state waterways.
Over the past 27 years, Ocean Conservancy’s International Coastal Cleanup has become the world’s largest volunteer effort for ocean health. In 2012, more 560,000 volunteers picked up 10 million pounds of trash during the event. They recorded every item found, providing a clear picture of manufactured items impacting the health of humans, wildlife and economies.
