You might not think of a beach cleanup as an outing. However, it is a great way to go out into the community, make a difference, and enjoy the outdoors along the way. If you follow our blog, you know that Pauline and I love the ocean. But you don’t have to dive to be able to appreciate the ocean’s beauty, or the role it plays in supporting life on our planet.
It also turns out that you don’t have to take it upon yourself to help clean up the ocean (or get yourself all the way out there to do it!). We were invited to participate in a wonderful cleanup activity that the folks at The Key, arrange on a monthly basis. We aren’t actually members of the fitness club. But that doesn’t matter! They were more than happy to help get us out to Jinshan beach to help with their cleanup.
A trip to the beach, with a purpose
We met early (6:30am) on a Saturday morning at the coffee shop that is in the first floor of the club. There, they gave us a free coffee (to put into our own reusable coffee mugs) and a really nice hot egg breakfast sandwich. Rides out to the beach were arranged with volunteers who use their own cars. Bags, gloves, and some trash grabbers were all provided. It’s an extremely well-organized outing.
If you want to clean up the beach
The Key isn’t the only place that organizes beach cleanings. But we really enjoyed the experience with them. If you want to help out, just use their facebook page to sign up. The signup page is actually through Google Docs, which has a great English version. Chinese too. Just check out their events page on Facebook for the announcement for the next month’s cleanup. All you need is a good attitude and your own to go mug, as well as a good amount of water. Cleaning up also happens to be good exercise!
**We’ve gone back and helped with The Key’s Beach Cleanups a couple of more times since this post! Each time its been a great experience. Meet up times for the event aren’t always the same, so double check the facebook page for up-to-date info