Stone Harbor Beach Clean Up ‘Great Success’

To the Editor:
Once again, the Sat., April 30, beach clean up in Stone Harbor sponsored by Clean Ocean Action was a great success due to the enthusiasm and spirit of good citizenship of the trustees and members of the Realty Owners Association of Stone Harbor (ROA). Each year in the spring Stone Harbor clean up increases in number; over thirty-five adults and elementary students participated on this Saturday. Volunteers are ultimately what make a great community even greater and activities such as the Beach Sweep provide a great venue to express community spirit. What a pleasant surprise it was to have five students from Dennis Township+ Elementary School and their mom arrive offering to volunteer. These young ladies formed their own community service club and look for opportunities to do good works.
A special thank you goes to our Beach Sweep coordinator Helen Edwards who gave clear directions and provided great refreshments needed after the long morning’s walk.
This is the 26th year of this event and has traditionally been well supported by the Stone Harbor community. About 70 other New Jersey communities along the coast also participated in beach clean ups during the spring.
The task is to pick up trash and recyclables from the dune line down to the water’s edge of Stone Harbor’s entire beach. When all is gathered into the plastic bags, each item collected is categorized and marked on a card to provide valuable data about trash types, such as: cigarette filters, bottles, and Mylar balloons. Data from these cards is collected and analyzed to identify pollution trends in the waters off New Jersey’s coast. The results from these New Jersey beach sweeps are forwarded to The Ocean Conservancy, which maintains an international database for tracking trends of marine debris in the world’s oceans. Further, the Beach Sweep coordinator shares these findings with the borough.
What a welcome sight it is for our summer visitors and returning residents to see their beach clean and preserved for all to enjoy and share. Thank you all from the ROA for your enthusiasm and commitment to this volunteer effort. We hope everyone will come back to help in the fall on the Oct. 22. The fall clean up tends to be even more necessary after a long summer of visitors.
BARB HENCHECK
Stone Harbor
(ED. NOTE: Hencheck is a member of the Realty Owners Association of Stone Harbor, ROA.)