ICC: Rotary Club of Saipan

Saturday, September 17, 2011 8am-9:30am
Garapan Fishing Basin, Saipan CNMI
Coordinated by: Laurie Peterka

Thank you to everyone who showed up to help with the International Coastal Clean Up at the Garapan Fishing Basin on Saturday! It was a really great turn out --- kudos to you all!!! The ocean thanks you and the planet thanks you for taking the time to pick up trash and for helping to set an example for others in our community. For those who were unable to join us, we missed you and hope to see you next time...

Our total group (after stragglers arrived) was about 25 people, including staff from McDonalds. We started a little after 8am and stopped around 9:30am due to the major downpour of rain. Afterwards, we gathered in the tented area and counted our collections for reporting to the CRM and Ocean Conservancy.

All in all, we collected approximately 40 bags of trash, which consisted mostly of bits of plastic bags and wrappers, cans, bottles, caps, cigarette butts, batteries, diapers and carry away food service items (cups, forks, spoons, etc).

Additionally, we discussed making a request once again to move the Rotary recycling bin back to its original location under the big pine tree nearest the road going in and out of the area for higher visibility and, hopefully, more usage.

ICC: Rotary Club of Saipan

Participating in the annual International Coastal Clean Up event organized by CRM and NOAA-Marine Debris Program, the Rotary Club of Saipan gathered Saturday 09/25/2010 from 8am-11am to pick up trash at the Garapan Fishing Base area. Twenty (20) volunteers collected about 500 lbs of trash while several other Rotarians were involved in clean ups at other sites. Most of the collections at Fishing Base consisted of plastic bottles, cans, food wrappers and cigarette butts. The most unique item found was a popcorn machine.

Invitations to the Adopt-a-Bin Ribbon Cutting Ceremony

• MINA invites community members to the Adopt-a-Bin ribbon cutting ceremony this Saturday morning at Obyan Beach, 9:00 am.
  
  The first recycling and mixed waste bins will be installed to make proper trash disposal more convenient at area beaches, thus reducing the amount of litter left to become marine debris.
  
  We invite our many partners, members and friends to join in the celebration and recognize our many adopters (in alphabetical order):
  
  o Brabu Pharmacy and Wellness Center, LLC - 13 Fishermen Monument
  o Congressman Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan and the Susupe Hi-5 Basketball team - Kilili Beach
  o CTSI and Tan Holdings - Susupe Beach Park
  o Ericco Enterprises - Laolao Beach
  o Marianas Trekking - Wing Beach
  o Rotary Club of Saipan - Garapan Fishing Basin
  
  We thank our funders the NOAA Marine Debris Prevention Program for making this program possible.
  
  Visit MINA on the web at http://www.minapacific.org

First Photos of International Coastal Cleanup

Since the Commonwealth lies 10 hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time, our day starts hours before your does. That means that the 600 or so volunteers participating in this year's International Coastal Cleanup on the islands of Saipan and Tinian were some of the first participants on the planet. Go us!

Saipan and Tinian had 19 adopted sites this year, our first year participating in this annual international event. We organized our cleanups the same way we organized last April's Island Wide Cleanup. Groups adopted a spot, recruited their own volunteers and set their own time, and the Beautify CNMI coalition supported them with free supplies and help hauling the garbage away.

As the Director of Community Service for the Rotary Club of Saipan I adopted and organized a cleanup of Tank Beach in Kagman. Tank Beach is a north facing beach and on Saipan that means that trash from the ocean washes up on it constantly; We mostly found rope, discarded fishing gear, small bits of plastic, and hundreds of water bottles. Unlike the beaches on the western shore of Saipan, we weren't finding plates, plastic forks, or dumped household garbage.

We spent about two hours scouring the beach for bits of plastic. When we were done we had amassed quite the pile of trash. I'm always amazed at how much trash you get from a seemingly clean beach when you pick it all up and put it in one place.

We'll know by Monday what the combined efforts of all 600 people are. Many hands make light work and with over 600 volunteers I expect that the amount of trash we picked off our beaches this morning to be in the thousands of pounds.

Thanks to everyone who participated in this year's event with special thanks going to Bridge Capital for funding our cleanup supplies and the Division of Environmental Quality for being the central organizers.

I have posted more photos on the Beautify CNMI Facebook Fan Page and other volunteers have posted photos on their profiles from cleanups at Jeffries Beach, Paupau Beach, and on Tinian.

THANK YOU! THANK YOU VERY MUCH!

I CAN'T thank everyone enough! A MILLION THANKS to all of you who came out yesterday and will come out again today to participate in the 2009 Island-wide Cleanup in observance of this year's Environmental Awareness Month. The number of participants this year shattered the number we established almost three years ago with the 2006 Island-wide Cleanup called "1020 on 10/20" (Where we asked for at least 1,020 volunteers to participate in the Island-wide Cleanup on October 20, 2006, but got 3,380 volunteers instead!) This year, well over 4,000 volunteers (4,040 yesterday morning and counting!) from government, private, and the community set aside whatever they were going to do yesterday to collectively do one GREAT thing for our community -- BEAUTIFY IT and walk right into history while at it!

WAY TO BEAUTIFY CNMI!

Angelo Villagomez (of Beautify CNMI!, the Rotary Club, Pew Environmental Group, Friends of the Monument, and MINA)and Joe Kaipat of DEQ did an outstanding job of organizing this massively successful cleanup.

Thanks to our wonderful sponsors: The Rotary Club, DEQ, MVA, NTT Docomo, McDonald's, Ron & Nancy Kramis, PDM Promoters, Marianas Tourism Education Council, and Beautify CNMI!

Oh, and by the way, THANKS to Bank of Guam and Shirley's for donating the money to build our Beautify CNMI! trailer and THANKS to FMI for building it. Joe and the DEQ gang put the trailer to good full use during the cleanup!

And one final thought -- Can you all think of a better way to showcase our beautiful islands to our many friends and visitors who will be arriving by sea and air to attend our Flame Tree Arts Festival? Please...Let's keep our islands clean and beautiful. Let's continue to Beautify CNMI!

Cinta M. Kaipat
Beautify CNMI!