In partnership with the annual California Coastal Cleanup Day, the Ojai Valley Green Coalition will spearhead a cleanup event for local creeks on Saturday, September 25. Youth and adult volunteers will meet at Libbey Park at 9:00 A.M. and then head out in smaller groups to creek areas in need of trash pickup, returning before noon to turn in the collected trash and recyclables.
For California Coastal Cleanup Day in 2007, more than 60,000 volunteers worked together throughout the state to collect more than 900,000 pounds of trash and recyclables from California beaches, lakes, and waterways. Since the program started in 1985, more than 800,000 Californians have removed more than 12 million pounds of debris from our state's shorelines and coast. This is the Ojai Valley Green Coalition’s fourth year of participating in the statewide event, and Harrison Industries will support the cleanup event by providing the trash and recycling bins as well as the hauling, as they have done in past years.
Ojai resident Ruth Cooper volunteered at the event in 2009, and found it so satisfying that she decided to help coordinate the Ojai cleanup this year. According to Cooper, “The time goes by fast—it’s amazing how much trash we can gather from the creeks in just a couple of hours. It’s definitely a feel-good event. All that junk would otherwise be heading out to the Ventura River and the ocean once the rains come. Plus, I think it helps raise awareness of the importance of not littering.”
So that the event itself doesn’t produce trash, volunteers are being asked to provide their own reusable gloves and water bottles (water will be made available for refills). Cooper recommends that volunteers dress for hiking because a lot of the terrain is rocky, uneven, and brushy.
For further information about the event, leave a message for Deborah Pendrey, Executive Director of the Ojai Valley Green Coalition, at (805) 669-8445 or send an email to Deborah at coordinator@ojaivalleygreencoalition.com.
