80 Blue Cross Blue Shield Employees Help Keep South Boston's Beaches the Cleanest Urban Beaches in America

On September 16th, Blue Cross Blue Shield held their 5th annual corporate-wide Service Day: One Community. One Blue where more than 3,000 BCBS employees participated in service projects across the state. 80 of those employees chose to spend their day helping the Department of Conservation and Recreation maintain the cleanest urban beach in America by removing 18 tons of trash, overgrown brush and debris!

The Blue Crew helped keep South Boston's beaches clean in partnership with the DCR and Save the Harbor/Save the Bay

Site coordinator, Amy Eve, led the efforts of the 80 Blue Cross Blue Shield employees in South Boston at Carson Beach, M Street Beach, K Street Beach and City Point in partnership with the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation and Save the Harbor/Save the Bay staff. The eight teams accomplished a great deal of work throughout the day from Pleasure Bay to the McCormack Bath House removing weeds and overgrowth, painting shade shelters, and sweeping sand back onto the beaches. 

Damien Sarafian of Bridgewater and Tim Staples of Dorchester help to sweep sand back onto Carson Beach

Tim Staples of Dorchester, who works in the Quincy BCBS office, chose this service day project because it resonated close to home with him. "I live in the area and jumped at the opportunity to help take care of my neighborhood."

Amanda Cummings and Hollie Alexander of Weymouth pulled weeds along Carson Beach. They have known each other since high school and chose to work with Save the Harbor for their Service Day so they could enjoy a day on the harbor! 

The Blue Crew's efforts were most apparent along the walk way around the Sugar Bowl. They worked incredibly hard to remove truckloads of brush and debris that had pilled up along the fence. After all was said and done the teams repainted 16 shade shelters, removed eight tons of organic material such as weeds and shrubs, collected 10 tons of trash and debris, and swept sand away from four beach accessible ramps and six sets of stairs. 

Anton Truong of Quincy worked hard to remove weeds near the McCormack Bath House, he also found a blue marble and has been entered into Save the Harbor and JetBlue's "Simply Marble-ous" Treasure Hunt! 

To find out more about the treasure hunt click here!

Bruce Berman, Director of Strategy, Communications and Programs at Save the Harbor was delighted to see how much the Blue Crew had accomplished in such a short amount of time. "We are glad to have Blue Cross Blue Shield as a partner for their day of service," he said. "We value their continued support and commitment to our community and mission to protect the Boston Harbor and its surrounding beaches. When government, nonprofits and responsible corporate partners come together we can accomplish a lot for our communities."

The Blue Crew pulling weeds near Mother's Rest

Thank you to everyone who participated in this year's Blue Cross Blue Shield service day on the beaches of South Boston. All of us from Save the Harbor/Save the Bay and the Department of Conservation and Recreation appreciate your hard work. 

Blue Cross Visits Save The Harbor

This week has been a really busy week with Staff day, the Blue Cross Blue Sheild day, and the beach bash and splash on friday. I was really excited for the Blue Cross visit because most of my friends are working for Blue Cross so when they came in it was really cool because I had an opportunity to show them a part of Save the Harbor. The day started of well, I had a chance to play with some of the kids who were going to Spectacle with us and I had a chance to learn what the all access crew did. The kids were all coloring and they were all really excited to go on the boat and visit the island because some of them had never been before.

The Blue Cross Crew

The day on Spectacle was well spent, we had an opportunity to help the community by cleaning the trash of the beaches and cleaning the dock which was filled with sea shells. After we had finished our duties we had the rest of the day off to go and explore the island or go play kick ball with kids. A few people went on the kayak tour which I thought was really awesome. My friends and I took a long walk to the beach and explored the island. Towards the end of the day it drizzled a bit but no one was complaining and they were pretty excited because they had to run for cover and everyone was just laughing and having a blast. My friends' review of the Save the Harbor was a 5 out 5, they said that they all had a really amazing day and that they had a lot of fun.

Me and Andrea Sweeping Away 

Jazeel Mendes- Chao

Let's Give Back!

Hey guys! How's it going? So, I am Juelle Benjamin. I also work as an intern for Blue Cross Blue Shield. The point of meeting up with BCBS this past Wednesday was to clean up Georges Island! Although, Georges Island is kept pretty tidy unfortunately sometimes people still tend to litter. Over 20 BCBS interns helped clean up Georges Island along with Save The Harbor/Save The Bay Junior Program Assistants. The BCBS who don't work at Save The Harbor/Save The Bay got to experience what Georges Island was like on a regular day. They even went into the creepy tunnels and ate tasty food at the Summer Shack! I had such a good time at Georges Island, we made community service fun!

It's not bye, it's a see ya later!

-Juelle Benjamin 

Make a difference in your Community.

                   

Community Service day.

                     Hey, What sup guys? It's me Myriam and I am back with some news about community service's day.I guess you readers probably missed me.

             Community Service Happened one day ago and we wanted to clean our beautiful Island who is George Island.My team and I were cleaning  Georges Island we kinda doing Community Service with Blue Cross Blue Shield crew. I picked all trashes like paper, cigarette, bottle water and more.. Save the Harbor/ Save the Bay Staff were excited to meet Blue Cross Blue Shield. A lot of blue Cross crew were here to help us they gave us some gloves and trash bags.
   
       

Doing Community service with my team.

 
After pick up all the trash in the hot sun at George Island, we decided to take a break and talked to Blue cross Blue Shield crew about going to the dark tunnel. They handed me a White shirt so when we go to the dark tunnel my white shirt could glow. Lunch time approached and our generous boss pay our lunch "Thank you Bruce and Patty".Now, we walked bravely  to go meet the lady in black at the tunnel of dark.

Let's do this.

   We went inside, my crew were scared they were screaming inside of the holes and they just ran back immediately we wanted to have more fun but time was kicking so another day will perfect for save the harbor/save the bay and blue cross to meet and having a fun time.


Love you guys.
                                         Thank you for supporting me.
 
See you next time.
 
                                                                   Myriam.


   

Doing Some Community Service

This week, Wednesday was weird because instead of going straight to Piers Park, I had to go to George's Island to pick up trash with Blue Cross Blue Shield. It was a day where I felt like I was really taking an extra step towards helping the environment become healthier and cleaner. It was weird seeing trash on this Island because on Spectacle Island there was not a single piece of trash to be seen. When we arrived at George's Island, we had a mini meeting to discuss the goals of the day, then we were given some trash bags and rubber gloves. After that we got straight to work. I picked up many cigarette butts, plastic, and surprisingly, lots of Styrofoam. There was more trash on this Island than I had expected.  

Looking for trash.

After gathering all the trash we found, we left it in one pile and went to have lunch. Our boss, Bruce, was generous enough to pay for our lunch. After we had our delicious lunch we took a little trip to the tunnels. I was really excited because I haven't been there since training week, it was good to be back.  

Staff Day, Barbeque and Hula Hoops OH MY

Hello Harbor Explorers!  This week has been fantastic and jam-packed:  Monday was staff day, then Tuesday and Wednesday I got to explore Georges Island with tons of kids and to wrap up the week, I have tomorrow off!

The week started off with Staff Day, which includes an annual trip to Spectacle Island for some fun in the sun and lunch on Bruce and Patty's boat.  While some staffers headed up to the fields to play (what I heard was) an intense game of kickball, I stayed right on the beach.  A nice swim followed by a ranger-led kayaking excursion with Thi, Sarah, Iris and Jennifer was lots of fun, especially since it was the first time I had gone kayaking this year!  Thi and I got a little competitive but I proved myself the fastest kayaker this side of the Charles River by the end of the day.

Me, Thi and Vinh enjoying the waves

Tuesday and Wednesday I was on Georges Island with All Access.  We had an exceptionally great week -- we took out over 700 kids between the two days!  I also got to see something unusual on Tuesday:  leader extraordinaire David Coffin invoked his barbeque rule while we were out on the island.  According to David, if he can smell barbeque, he can have some barbeque.  While I had never heard of this rule before, the other visitors to the island must have been familiar with it, since they gladly offered him his choice of what was grilling.  David even manned the grill for a little while, but was removed from duty for bad behavior.

David made some friends!

Wednesday we were lucky enough to have the 2013 summer interns for Blue Cross Blue Shield join us on Georges for their day of service.  They helped clean up trash from the beach and trails around the island -- a big thank you to all the kids for their hard work, especially the Save the Harbor staffers that are from Blue Cross!

Hard at work...or hardly working

All in all, a great week out on the harbor islands, and a long weekend for me to enjoy!  Next week the whole staff will be gearing up for our 3rd annual Beach Bash and Splash on Thursday, so more cool pictures and stories to come!

-- Carolyn

Blue Cross Meets Save The Harbor

This Wednesday, all of the Blue Cross Blue Shield program participants had the opportunity to go to George's Island. We cleaned the beaches and walked around picking up trash. George's Island was really fun because I had the opportunity to be on the boat and give people plums and it gave me a chance to interact with them. All of the people that went to the island were all really cool and wanted to help keep the island clean.

Blue Cross Blue Shield meets Save the Harbor

At the island I had the chance to be with my friends from Blue Cross that work in different areas. It was really cool showing them a little of what Save the Harbor does. On the island, after we cleaned up, we ate some good burgers from the store. My overall experience was pretty good and if I was asked to return to the island again I would do it with no hesitation.

Keeping George's Island clean!

Intro!

    Hello everyone! I'm Juelle Benjamin, I am a senior and attend school at Another Course to College in Brighton, MA. I am a returning staff from last summer. This will be my second summer working at Save The Harbor/Bay. I had so much fun at All Access the previous summer and met so many great people with crazy, fun personalities! My goal this summer is to learn more history about the beaches in the Greater Boston as well as learn new things to walk away with something positive and fun. I'm looking forward to having an awesome summer with working new staff, meeting

awesome children and making a difference in their lives.

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

Cleaning up Carson Beach with Blue Cross/Blue Shield

There can't be many better ways to spend a workday than cleaning up a beach on a beautiful, sunny fall afternoon. Save the Harbor was lucky enough to join nearly 100 BlueCrew members from Blue Cross/Blue Shield in a clean up on Carson Beach this Tuesday. This is just one of the many volunteer efforts of Blue Cross/Blue Shield as part of their Massachusetts Service Day projects. 

The BlueCrew gathers to start the day of service

The crew was divided into 8 teams and scattered to cover the entire stretch of beach. I hopped in to join "Foley's Team," dubbed for group leader, Tom Foley of Somerset. We headed out towards the gazebo, working our way back towards the center of the beach. Our group had a great attitude, smiling and joking the entire day. Foley served as a great leader, eagerly pulling out weeds along the beach and cracking jokes with his peers. 

Sean Sullivan, of Dartmouth, and Tom Foley, of Somerset, chatting and weeding 

We were so efficient that we finished our area by lunchtime! There were roughly 10 bags of trash and weeds from our group by this time already. Our spirits were high and our tummies ready for lunch. But on the walk back to the beach house, a stray plastic bag started making its way towards the water. Odette Palmer-Lee of Boston quickly ran off to catch it, and returned with the grin of success on her face! 

Odette Palmer-Lee captures her prey- a stray plastic bag!

After our lunch break, we continued our weeding efforts for the rest of the day before joining the rest of the teams for final reflections and much-deserved praise of the BlueCrew's service accomplishments. I think it's safe to say that everyone had a wonderful time spending their day chatting with friends, enjoying the weather, and working to make Carson Beach an even more enjoyable amenity of Boston. 

"Foley's Team" with Chris Davis, Odette Palmer-Lee, Sean Sullivan, Claire Tigges, Tom Foley, Todd Linsky, Cori Linsky, and Holly MacMillan. 

Jacqueline 

Jacqueline Sussman

Policy Intern 

Save the Harbor/Save the Bay

Blue Cross / Blue Shield join Save the Harbor / Save the Bay for Beautiful Day of Service

On Tuesday, September 25, nearly 100 Blue Cross/Blue Shield employees joined Save the Harbor/Save the Day for a day of service, helping to clean up South Boston’s Carson Beach.  The Blue Crew’s participation in the project contributed to their 16,000 hours spent on 30 service projects across the area. 

Among the many participants were expectant mother Jill Aiello, of Pembroke.  Jill along with Scott McLaughlin of Scituate worked to trim dead branches and bushes that lined the beach.  Both were enthusiastic about the event and were happy to spend the beautiful day outdoors. 

Similarly, Donna Fox of Weymouth, and Paul McNulty of South Boston, also put in a lot of hard work cleaning up the park adjacent to the beach.  As I joined the friends in their efforts, I was shocked by the amount of broken bottles scattered in the grass.  Before the Blue Crew had a chance to help clean things up, it would have been dangerous for anyone to play in the park, because of all the sharp glass pieces.  Luckily, Donna and Paul were there to do their part and make the park a safe environment once again. 

Overall, the Blue Crew and Save the Harbor helped to clean up nearly a mile and a half stretch of beach.  It’s important to keep the beaches clean because they are free for the public to use.  Maintaining their cleanliness ensures that families and individuals will have them available to use for many years to come. 

What made the day even better was the beautiful weather we were treated to.  The sun brightly shone for the entire day, which encouraged people to work even harder.  I have to say it was amazing to see the difference in the beach by the end of the clean up! 

- Nathan 

Nathan Rossi

Communications and Development Intern

Save the Harbor / Save the Bay

BlueCrew Cleans Up Carson Beach!

“Blue Cross Blue Shield! Save the Harbor / Save the Bay! One Community! One Blue!”



Blue Cross Blue Shield volunteers gather in front of the
McCormack Bathhouse before getting started.

Yesterday began with a rousing chant, as about 100 Blue Cross Blue Shield employees joined Save the Harbor / Save the Bay on Carson Beach in South Boston for a day of service.  The effort was part of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts' Service Day, and this year marked the 75^th anniversary of the company's service.  DCR's Jack Kelly welcomed the group beneath sunny skies and tasked us all with a variety of beach clean-up tasks. The group was divided up into eight different teams and quickly set out to various points along the beach to get started.

I had the privilege of joining “Team D”; we started near one of the beach walkways (on the Google Maps satellite image, it appears across from G Street), pulling everything but one particular plant, called Mayberry.  Don't worry - none of us knew what this was at first either!  A little research shows that Mayberry is more commonly known as Elliott's Blueberry, and is, as it sounds, a member of the blueberry family.¹ In our work time during the morning, we cut back overgrown brush, weeded out sea grass and picked up trash among other things. I have to say, I think I was pretty lucky – my group was filled with enthusiastic, hard-working volunteers, and in their company, time flew by.

Among the many fascinating people I got to both work and talk with was Ronnie Bynoe.  Ronnie, from Weymouth and an avid beachgoer, was quick to describe her love of sharing the area with friends, suggesting that I do the same.  She touted the beaches as a great place to come and unplug (she leaves all her electronics in her car!), mentioning that “it's great place to take time for yourself.”

 

"People don't realize all the beauty we have in this state,” said Ronnie. “We don't take enough advantage of it.”


Ronnie shows off our morning's handiwork!

 

Team Leader Amy Dennett of Marshfield and Jamal Noshahi of Somerville were also among our group members. They have been with Blue Cross Blue Shield for 2 ½ years and 4 months, respectively, and work in several different capacities.  All in our group, including Julie, of Hull, who has been with Blue Cross Blue Shield in various positions for time totaling 8 years (!), approached our assigned tasks with gusto, and expressed their enjoyment of being outside and on the beach. 

 

After lunch, we pulled the last few weeds out of our initial work spot, and then worked our way along the sea wall towards the north end of the beach, joining other groups to work on clearing out the massive amounts of sea grass there.  Just before 3PM, we headed back towards the bathhouse where we'd started the day, and listened to some closing remarks from Jack Kelly and Save the Harbor / Save the Bay's Matt Wolfe. As a part of the closeout, Blue Cross Blue Shield awarded a “Spirit of Service” Award to an employee who demonstrated the work ethic and level of service that the day aspires to achieve. I'm happy to say Ronnie was the recipient!! Check out this picture of her receiving kudos from team leader Amy in front of the whole group...

Overall, today was a great way not only to get to serve directly with Save the Harbor / Save the Bay and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, but also a really fun day in which I met some extremely engaging people and did impactful work. And now, I can't wait to do it again...

Until then,

Megan

Want to visit Carson Beach? For more information, click here.

Congrats Blue Cross Blue Shield on 75 years of service! For more information on their community efforts, check out this page.

¹ “Vaccinium elliottii /Elliott's Blueberry, Mayberry” OnlinePlantGuide.com 25 Sept. 2012 <http://www.onlineplantguide.com/Plant-Details/2707/>

Megan Rawson

Development Intern

Save the Harbor / Save the Bay

Boston Harbor: From Trap to Table

We've reached the beginning of our second week out on Boston Harbor, and I couldn't be more proud of how my amazing staff spent their first week of programs. You can read their own experiences all over this blog, but, spoiler alert: it was a really exciting week. There was an eel at the Boston Children's Museum, a flounder at Piers Park Sailing Center, fishing success in the Charles River, and a new sign at Camp Harbor View-- just to name a few highlights. If this first week is any indication of the rest of the summer-- I can't wait for week two!

David Coffin, our maritime historian, starts every day of All Access Boston Harbor by posing a challenge to the hundreds of kids who are about to board our boat: Today, try something you've never tried before. Some kids take their first boat ride, some kids find their first piece of red sea glass, some kids overcome their fear of the dark tunnels on Georges Island. New experiences are happening on the Harbor every day! And even though it's my third summer with the program, this week was still filled with several "firsts," proving to me once again that the Harbor always has something new to offer!

First #1: Our First Blue Cross / Blue Shield Interns!
This past Tuesday, TEN new staffers joined our ranks, and we're thrilled to welcome them to the Save the Harbor team. They come to us through Blue Cross Blue Shield's internship program, which helps provide jobs to local high school students in Boston. This is the first time we've partnered with Blue Cross Blue Shield in this respect, and I couldn't be happier already. All of the young men and women have been eager to learn so many new things and are so enthusiastic already. Keep an eye out for them on the Harbor in the coming weeks!

First #2: My First All Access Trip!
In 3 summers, I hadn't actually been out on All Access! So I was REALLY excited to go out to Spectacle Island on Tuesday, AND to bring our ten new staffers aboard to show them the Harbor. But my personal first aside, Tuesday also marked our FIRST All Access Boston Harbor trip aboard the Provincetown II, and thus our first trip to be able to take over 350 kids and teens out on the Harbor in one trip. It was amazing to witness so many community groups experiencing the island-- and to comb my favorite beach for some beautiful artifacts!

First #3: Camp Harbor View's First Lobster Feast!
On Thursday, I headed out to Camp Harbor View to be a part of our new programming out on Long Island. And we decided to bring some friends along -- some lobsters for a mini feast! The two lobsters had been caught elsewhere in the Harbor... and boiled by yours truly! We wanted to bring some lobsters out there so that the kids at Harbor View could see the benefits of the Harbor from trap to table-- that we can catch things right here in the clean, healthy water, and that they can be delicious. Hopefully we'll have quite a few more lobster feasts at Camp Harbor View this summer!

Here's to a great Week Two!

Michelle

A New Place Calls For New Adventures

       Hey, my name is Brianna Charles. I am 18-years old and a graduate of Brighton High School and I am a Freshman at Bunker Hill Community College as a nursing major. I am very outgoing and friendly. I chose to be a nursing major because I loved kids, well babies and wanted to be around them as they were born instead of having my own at 18-years old ( also known as midwifing ). When I found out about Save the Harbor / Save the Bay it was only through Blue Cross Blue Shield. I knew BCBS helped you get jobs but I didn't know they were giving out some fun jobs for the summer. This was a great time to get more experience with varies age groups, I knew what my job was when I was being interviewed ( kinda ) but my first day i absolutely loved it. It gave me a chance to get away from the usual city of Boston and explore things with kids and teens while being knowledgeable of the marine science and harbor lifestyle. 


Brianna Charles

The Name Is Anthony !!

Hey world my name is Anthony Diaz, im 19 years old, and I just graduated from Brighton High school. My plan is to go to Mass Bay community college for 2 years, then transfer to Umass Amherst and finish off over there.
My older brother Ramon Diaz talked me into joining the summer program at Blue Cross Blue Shield. The first meeting I went to I loved it and decided to stay and become a grown up.
My goals this summer are to inspire children to look up to me and for me to be a great role model for them, to meet new people such as co-workers, kids, etc. I'm really looking forward to working with Save the Harbor/Save the Bay.
Well that's me. Have a great day!

                                  My only dedication this summer is to Save the Harbor/Save the Bay !

A Day With the "Blue Crew"

Yesterday, Save the Harbor /Save the Bay hosted a beach clean-up in South Boston for nearly 100 Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts employees. Despite the rain, members of the “Blue Crew” were energized and excited to be out of the office and on the beach helping Save the Harbor and the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) address the need for clean, usable beaches not only in the summer but in the spring and fall as well.

The day kicked off with a few words from Save the Harbor’s Bruce Berman, a visit from Senator Jack Hart, and a spirit cheer led by one of the Blue Crew members. DCR’s Jack Kelly then instructed the employees on their tasks for the day, some of which included trash clean-up, weeding, and moving of displaced sand back to the beach. As the clean-up began, it was obvious how passionate the employees were about their service day – one employee even continued to pick up trash during his lunch break!

During their lunch, Karl Pastore from DCR thanked and encouraged the crew as they prepared to head back out into the rain to finish the clean-up. By the end of the day, the beach looked incredible and everyone was exhausted! It was wonderful to see how enthusiastic everyone was—and how much fun they had-- regardless of the bad weather.

The beach clean-up was part of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts’ inaugural company-wide Service Day, powered by BlueCrew, BCBSMA corporate volunteer program, and inspired by the vision and goals of the community. Blue Cross Blue Shield had over 3,000 employees engaged in locally-designed projects across the Commonwealth. Save the Harbor was lucky enough to be chosen as one of BCBSMA’s non-profit partners for the 2011 service day.

We can't thank Blue Cross Blue Shield enough for all of their dedication and hard work and can't wait to work with them again in the future!