Thursday, September 27, 2012

The Carson Beach Blues


Tuesday was the perfect day, the sun was shining in a brilliant blue sky, and the breeze a perfect mix of salty ocean air warmed by the sun blowing in over sparkling blue waters. Even the sand was blue- with our dedicated partners from Blue Cross Blue Shield that is. Save the Harbor / Save the Bay and Blue Cross Blue Shield came together to do our part to keep Carson beach clean. Blue Cross Blue Shield participated with us as just one part of a larger effort including thirty projects, 1600 hours, and 3000 participants in a statewide cleanup effort. Working with the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation, we were placed into eight groups and to spread out so each group could take a section of the beach and cover more ground.
The BlueCrew hard at work cleaning Carson Beach.
My group was assigned the far side of the beach near the seawall. Our mission was to pull weeds and pick up any trash. Once we arrived to our section we split into groups of two and we got to it. It was nice seeing people from other communities coming together to keep the Carson Beach landscape beautiful. As we prepared to head back for lunch our group took a moment to see what we had accomplished with just a few hours of hard work. BCBS employee Jackie Bliss stated that it was amazing the difference from when we started.
Jackie Bliss, Greg Ciagelo and Jackie Kenney from BCBS.
During lunch, I talked with Greg Ciagelo of Somerville. We spoke about how it’s great that the water is now clean so people can swim at the beaches, but that there’s still much more to do. We need to continue to maintain the beaches so visitors can enjoy them for their recreational purposes. I agreed with him-it’s one thing to be able to swim at the beach, but if the sand is dirty or the facilities are not in good condition then it limits other activities that these beaches can provide. After lunch, the teams spent another three hours beautifying this relaxing space just minutes from downtown Boston. Performing service to better our community is rewarding in itself, having the opportunity to meeting the employees from Blue Cross Blue Shield and be a part of their cleanup project made the day that much better.

- Camilla

Camilla Fitzpatrick
Communications and Development Intern
Save the Harbor / Save the Bay

No comments: