Submitted by: RE Sources for Sustainable Communities
RE Sources for Sustainable Communities’ AmeriCorps-Washington Service Corps member and Western Washington University club Students for the Salish Sea are hosting a Martin Luther King Jr. Day Of Service beach cleanup at Semiahmoo Spit to remove trash and large debris from the beach.
“Every MLK Day, thousands of AmeriCorps service members celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. by carrying on his legacy of promoting service to others,” said Lindsey Gard, the AmeriCorps-Washington Service Corps member at RE Sources for Sustainable Communities. “Let us remember Dr. King’s courageous acts of standing up for injustices in his community by showing solidarity with the communities of the Salish Sea.”
The cleanup is from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. on Monday, January 16th, at Semiahmoo Spit. Participants should meet in the public parking lot at Semiahmoo Park off Semiahmoo Parkway (map). Participants are encouraged to carpool to the event.
The cleanup is appropriate for all ages. Light snacks and equipment will be supplied, but volunteers are encouraged to bring work gloves and 5-gallon plastic buckets. Registration is not required. Questions: Email Lindsey Gard at lindseyg@re-sources.org.
The cleanup is in support of “Stand for the Salish Sea” event coordinated by FRIENDS of the San Juans highlighting the regional opposition to Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion project, which would bring seven tankers a week through the Salish Sea.
“Our beaches are crucial to supporting ocean health — they provide habitat for important wildlife that lives in the ocean and on land,” said Sarah Sasek, Students for the Salish Sea coordinator. “Volunteer efforts to clean up our local beaches and waterways are opportunities to fulfill our sacred obligation to the Salish Sea and to our home. Everyone can engage in the movement for trash-free seas.”
