Creek to Bay Cleanup

San Diego County, CA – Online volunteer registration has begun for I Love A Clean San Diego’s signature event, the Creek to Bay Cleanup. As part of the national Great American Cleanup, an estimated 6,000 San Diego volunteers will be needed on Saturday, April 27th from 9:00am to 12noon at 92 cleanup sites countywide. Participants will help preserve the local environment by cleaning up local outdoor areas, including beaches, bays, creeks, canyons, parks and urban areas. Volunteers of all ages are encouraged to participate. A complete list of cleanup sites, of which 25 are coastal and 67 are inland, is available on the event website, www.CreektoBay.org.

The Creek to Bay Cleanup is one of a handful of community engagement projects coordinated by I Love A Clean San Diego each year. The organization has been mobilizing volunteers around beautification and pollution prevention projects since 1954. Just last year, ILACSD engaged 31,000 volunteers to remove 180 tons of debris from our local environment.

Sign up to clean up online at: www.CreektoBay.org.

More than a Thousand Scouts Expected to Volunteer for Creek to Bay Cleanup

April 18, 2012 - For Immediate Release

San Diego County, CA – I Love A Clean San Diego (ILACSD) and Girl Scouts San Diego are combining forces to celebrate Earth Month at the Creek to Bay Cleanup. Roughly 1,000 local scouts will be participating in ILACSD’s annual Creek to Bay Cleanup, scheduled for Saturday April 28th from 9am – 12noon. San Diegans of all ages are encouraged to come out and do more with their morning on April 28th by volunteering at one of the 88 cleanup sites countywide. Sign up to clean up. Visit www.CreektoBay.org today.

“We’re especially proud to partner with I Love A Clean San Diego during our 100th anniversary,” said Girl Scouts San Diego CEO Jo Dee C. Jacob. “Girl Scouts are committed to making the world a better place, and cleaning up our county is the perfect place to begin!” ILACSD has been offering service patches to scouts who volunteer at their cleanup events for decades, and this year is no exception. However this year ILACSD is making it more convenient and eco-friendly by allowing scout troops to request their patches online after the event.

Also new this year, I Love A Clean San Diego and Sony Electronics are hosting a photo contest, encouraging volunteers to capture of the spirit of the Creek to Bay Cleanup by submitting their best photo of volunteers in action. The top three photos will be posted on ILACSD’s Facebook page (www.facebook.com/iloveacleansd) for voting May 11 – May 17. The winner will be announced on Friday May 18th and presented with a new camera, courtesy of Sony.

Ten years ago, I Love A Clean San Diego hosted its first Creek to Bay event with only 27 cleanup sites and 2,000 volunteers. More than 3,000 volunteers have already registered for this year’s event – committing to remove trash and participate in other beautification projects at 88 sites throughout San Diego County. On April 28th, I Love A Clean San Diego encourages all San Diegans to join together at the Creek to Bay Cleanup to improve the health of our environment and preserve the San Diego way of life for future generations. Consider signing up for an inland site which typically have a larger need yet receive less volunteer attention. Register today at www.CreektoBay.org and do more with your morning on April 28th!

April 30, 2011 - For Immediate Release

San Diego County, CA – An estimated 5,000 volunteers joined forces this morning to clean up San Diego as part of the annual Creek to Bay Cleanup. Coordinated by environmental nonprofit, I Love A Clean San Diego, the event removed thousands of pounds of trash from 75 cleanup sites countywide.

While volunteers removed the typical items including cigarette butts and plastic bags, there were a few unusual items in the bunch. This year’s unusual items include: a bathroom sink, AstroTurf and an Easy Bake oven. Many volunteers noted an unusually large amount of tires at their cleanup sites, most likely flowing downstream as a result of the wetter than normal winter.

Volunteers had the opportunity to take ownership of their parks, neighborhoods, beaches and open spaces by restoring and enhancing them. Today’s cleanup included trash removal as well as mural painting, native planting, brush maintenance and general park maintenance activities. The event empowers San Diegans to take an active role in preserving the local environment year-round, not just during Earth Month.

“The Creek to Bay Cleanup is about taking personal responsibility for the state of our environment and the health of our local communities,” said I Love A Clean San Diego’s Executive Director, Pauline Martinson. “I Love A Clean San Diego acts as a catalyst to inspire environmental stewardship countywide through these large-scale cleanup events.” 

I Love A Clean San Diego coordinates the two largest environmental volunteer events of the year, the Creek to Bay Cleanup each April and Coastal Cleanup Day in September. Through these and other smaller-scale cleanups, ILACSD volunteers remove half a million pounds of trash from San Diego’s environment every year!

For volunteers who may have missed today’s Creek to Bay Cleanup, there are still many opportunities to get involved. I Love A Clean San Diego coordinates cleanup events every month, as well as ongoing volunteer programs including storm drain stenciling and the Adopt-A-Beach program. Upcoming volunteer opportunities are listed online: www.cleansd.org.

San Diegans Encouraged to “Make Their Morning Count” on April 30th

April 20, 2011 - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

San Diego County, CA – Thousands of volunteers will join forces on Saturday April 30th as they participate in the 9th Annual Creek to Bay Cleanup. Hosted by San Diego’s oldest environmental nonprofit organization, I Love A Clean San Diego, the cleanup event will restore the local environment at 75 diverse cleanup sites countywide. Volunteers of all ages are still needed and can sign up for the Creek to Bay Cleanup by visiting the event website: www.creektobay.org.

Currently, more than 3,000 volunteers have registered for the cleanup event on April 30th from 9am - 12noon. However, I Love A Clean San Diego seeks thousands more to make a noticeable difference on the state of our beaches, bays, parks, canyons and creek beds. Last year, more than 5,000 volunteers were able to remove 80 tons of debris from San Diego’s environment in just three hours. That equates to roughly 32 pounds of trash removed by each volunteer, a staggering statistic that underscores the need for a large volunteer force. As one volunteer put it last year, “I usually golf Saturday morning, but I can skip golf this one time to help keep San Diego clean.” ILACSD once again calls on San Diegans to make their morning count by volunteering just a few hours of their time to make a big difference for their communities.

This expansive cleanup focuses primarily on inland areas with 49 of the 75 sites located inland, as those locations tend to have the most trash yet receive the least volunteer support throughout the year. As the name of the cleanup suggests, volunteers will remove debris from upstream creeks all the way down to local bays to reinforce one of the events key messages – all San Diegans, regardless of zip code, are all connected through a vast watershed system that makes up our region. This cleanup encourages participants to get involved locally by volunteering alongside their neighbors at convenient locations nearby. While the Creek to Bay Cleanup reminds San Diegans about the harmful effects that pollution can have on the local environment, it also inspires community pride amongst neighbors and friends.

I Love A Clean San Diego has been hosting cleanup events since its inception in 1954. They began coordinating countywide cleanups annually in 1989 and now host the countywide Creek to Bay Cleanup each April and California Coastal Cleanup Day each September. In 2010, I Love A Clean San Diego successfully coordinated 30,000 volunteers, more than any other environmental organization in San Diego County.

8 events. 1 million pounds of trash. Make your morning count. Register today at www.creektobay.org. You can also view a video recap of the 2010 cleanup here: http://bit.ly/ff0X80.