On Sunday, June 12, 2022, 55 volunteers from the International WeLoveU Foundation cleaned North Gandy Beach in St. Petersburg, FL, in partnership with Keep Pinellas Beautiful, who supplied bags, gloves, and pickers.
Sea Life Using Plastic to Build Their Homes
North Gandy Beach is a family-friendly location to gather, relax, and have fun. It’s uniquely characterized by having multiple pockets of smaller beaches in addition to its main beach and is home to local species of fish and marine life. Beachgoers frequently leave trash behind on the sand, forcing the wildlife to coexist with the debris. When arriving at North Gandy Beach, a volunteer noted how marine life is living amongst the growing trash in its environment.
“I came across a fiddler crab when I was walking, but it was dragging trash into the mangrove cove in order to build its home, and even schools of baby mullet fish were swimming in the shallow water in and around glass bottles, plastic bags, and bottle caps.”
A Short Walk Leads to Big Results
The volunteers began cleaning the area in earnest at 10 a.m. While walking they found waste like bricks, tires, shattered glass, plastic caps and bags, empty food containers, a tent frame, cardboard boxes, a street light cover, a fender, clothing, driftwood, and more. At the end of the cleanup, the volunteers had collected more than 80 bags of trash, totaling 1,018 lbs. All of the trash had been found from walking a bit over a mile along Gandy Beach’s shoreline.
“I’m really happy that I’m able to take footage of the International WeLoveU event. The news today is always showing the same thing and most of the time it’s negative. I’m thankful that the WeLoveU Foundation gave us a reason to spread awareness and hope to our communities; that there is a group of people that actually care. So, thank you all for coming out today and allowing me to share this with Tampa and inspiring others to participate,” said a local reporter.
The North Gandy Beach cleanup is part of WeLoveU’s Clean WORLD Movement. Learn how volunteers care for our water, oxygen, region, life, and descendants by clicking here.
9 thoughts on “Volunteers Clean North Gandy Beach to Help the Marine Life’s Habitat”
Thank you WeLoveU for sharing your time helping to have a clean community! We appreciate your effort!
Wow what a huge difference! Thank you for keeping our community clean!!🥰
It is so beautiful to see this. Good deeds always puts a smile on everyones face!
It is sad to read that marine life are living among the trash. Great Job, WeLoveU, for making the environment cleaner, not only for the people that visit the beach, but especially for the wildlife!
We often forget about sea life, the amount of waste that collects into the sea must really distrub our ocean friends there. Growing up I’ve always been interested in the seas and oceans, I’m happy to see volunteers also show their care by helping keeping their homes clean.
Great job to the WeLoveU Volunteers! I absolutely love to hear about these cleanups – especially when waterways and shorelines are involved. Protecting the marine life and ecosystem is huge! Thanks again to everyone who participated!
Me too :). This is so great to see!
I myself don’t like seeing trash in my community. So, I love the fact that WeLoveU cares about our sea creatures as well. They shouldn’t have to adapt to us putting our trash in their homes.
Thank you so much WeLoveU for considering the sea animals as well. We have to coexist together. We need our seas and oceans healthy in order to sustain our life.
Thank you for caring.
Everyone, everyday can emulate the great job that the WeLoveU Foundation is doing. Put trash in containers provided or simple take with you until it can be properly disposed of. When visiting any recreational location, look around your surroundings before departing and leave it cleaner than found.
Our animal co-habitants of this world cannot clean up after us. We must ensure they have safe and clean dwellings if we want to continue enjoying their company. THANK YOU! WeLoveU for giving us such a humbling example.