Playing Catchup

WING BEACH CLEANUP: Saipan Grand Hotel Team members participate in the Wing Beach Cleanup and Tree Planting on Nov. 18, Saturday. This beach has been part of Beautify CNMI and DEQ's Adopt a beach program. The cleanup started at 8am followed by the tree planting. The SGH Team is motivated in contributing their time and lending their voluntary support to activities such as this as they believe that this kind of program has a positive impact on the quality of life not only within the work community but the entire island. (Contributed Photo)

CLEANUP CREW: Staff of the Marianas Visitors Authority cleans up LauLau Beach on Nov. 25, 2006, as part of Beautify CNMI!'s activities. This beach has been adopted by MVA and will be cleaned six times a year. (Contributed photo)

Saturday Morning Cleanups!

There were 3 cleanups this morning!

December DEQ Cleanup Brigade

Was this the biggest cleanup brigade ever? I couldn't believe how many people showed up. I counted 87 volunteers...but there might have been more. Woot!

Thanks to everyone who participated!

Garapan

Representative Waki led a team of volunteers from his office, the Gualo Rai Youth Center, and Power 99 on a cleanup of Garapan. They removed 440 lbs of litter from the streets between Garapan Elementary School and the Bank of Guam Building.

Thank you, Rep. Waki for leading that cleanup!

Koblerville

The Board of Parole and Rep. Kaipat continued their assault on the blight in Koblerville. The volunteers painted bus stops and removed 860 lbs of trash from the area around the Koblerville substation.

Thank you, thank you, thank you to the hundreds of volunteers out picking up trash this morning! Tomorrow morning we will be meeting at the American Memorial Park parking lot at 8 AM for a cleanup of the Garapan Tourist District. At 10 AM we will be meeting up at the Navy Hill Lighthouse to remove litter from the area around that historic landmark.

Paseo de Marianas Christmas Tree Decorating

Click HERE for the Saipan Tribune story

Marianas Variety, Thursday, November 30, 2006

Recyclable materials decorate Christmas trees
By Emmanuel T. Erediano
Variety News Staff

ONCE described as “beautiful but dead,” Paseo de Marianas came alive yesterday as hundreds of students, their parents, teachers and school principals decorated 15 Christmas trees with recycled materials in a competition organized by the non-profit group Paseo de Marianas Promoters.

Rep. Absalon Waki, Covenant-Saipan, Paseo de Marianas Promoters manager Misako Kamata, Beautify CNMI!’s Angelo Villagomez and Fiesta Resort & Spa Hotel general manager Jackson Yen are the judges in the contest.

Fourteen schools and a youth center participated in the contest, and the judges watched the participants decorate their trees until they finished at 6 p.m.

The winners will be announced on Dec. 21.

The Christmas decoration contest is among the activities of the Paseo de Marianas Promoters which aims to transform the area into a family-oriented commercial park.

The use of recycled materials is the group’s way of showing support for another non-profit group, Beautify CNMI!, “a coalition of concerned citizens, private groups, and government entities united to enhance the CNMI’s natural beauty and foster community pride in its residents and visitors.”

During yesterday’s competition, Koblerville Elementary School students, parents and teachers used egg shells as Christmas balls, CDs, and cups to decorate their tree.
Kagman Elementary School used aluminum soda cans, empty water bottles, soft drink straws, and sticks.

The Guerrero T. Camacho Elementary School’s tree was decorated with paper, cardboards, styrofoam and water bottle caps.

Some teachers from the participating schools said it took them three days to conceptualize their entries.

Teachers said they were happy to see parents actively involved in the competition.

Saipan Tribune, Wednesday, November 30, 2006

Beautify CNMI! sets upcoming activities

Beautify CNMI! is set to begin work on its holiday activities:

- San Antonio Beach on Saturday at 8am. Volunteers are asked to use Aguas Street (road between the school and PIC). The cleanup will head north toward Chalan Piao. This event is the monthly DEQ cleanup brigade.

“Want to be famous? We will be filming our first Beautify CNMI! commercial at this event,” said Beautify CNMI!'s Angelo Villagomez.

- Garapan Tourist District on Sunday at 8am. Participants will meet in the parking lot of the American Memorial Park. This is Beautify CNMI's third cleanup of the tourist district. It is being led by volunteer group MOVER.

- Navy Hill Lighthouse on Sunday at 10am. “You asked for it, you got it. Dr. Khorram’s daughter, Nava, asked us if we could clean this historical area up. How could I say no? We are going to pick up trash, remove some weeds, and if allowed, paint over some graffiti,” said Villagomez.

Volunteer of the Week

From the Brilliant Star School Newsletter:

Over the summer, Kinney and Nava Khorram learned how to collect water samples using tools from the Stream Team. This year, one of the elementary student’s service projects will be volunteering for that group. They will be monitoring and collecting samples from designated streams in Garapan and turning those water samples in for testing at the DEQ. They will also plant trees and collect trash around our adopted streams. The Stream Team is a new volunteer organization dedicated to monitoring and improving the quality of the water flowing off the land and into the ocean around Saipan.

We have been throwing around the idea to restore the Navy Hill Lighthouse for a few months now, but we always came up with an excuse to ignore it.

Recently Nava asked her Dad to ask us to take the lighthouse on as one of our projects. He relayed her request to me over the weekend. Nava helped me collect water samples over the summer, so how could I say no?

Nava Khorram is the Beautify CNMI! volunteer of the week. Thank you, Nava, for providing the spark to get this worthy project underway. It took a kid...sorry, young adult to get us to finally do something. Now you have to prove your Volunteer of the Week status by bringing all of your classmates to the restoration event this weekend!

For those of you not on the Beautify CNMI! mailing list, this weekend we will be cleaning up garbage, clearing weeds, and possibly painting over graffiti and planting trees in the area in and around the Navy Hill Lighthouse. We will meet at the lighthouse Sunday, December 3 at 10:00 AM. The only thing you need to bring is two friends. Beautify CNMI! will provide all the tools.

Beautify CNMI! will also participate in the DEQ Cleanup Brigade at San Antonio Beach Saturday at 8:00 AM and the MOVER Garapan Tourist District Cleanup Sunday at 8:00 AM.

(If you are not on the Beautify CNMI! mailing list, please email me at angelovillagomez at gmail dot com and I will put you on.)

Unity Lion's Club

Last Sunday the Unity Lion's Club cleaned up the beach and road between Quartermaster and 13 Fishermen. They also donated bright yellow garbage bins.

Thank you!

Real Men of Beautify CNMI!

Clockwise from far left: Gus Kaipat, Kyle Kaipat, Ken Kramer, Dennis Cabrera, Carl Brachear, Tim Lang, Steve Hiney, Angelo Villagomez, and Ian Catlett pose for the Real Men Calendar.

What do you think?

San Antonio Beach

Pacific Islands Club Saipan completed their first official Adopt-a-Beach clean up this month(they've been doing cleanups on their own for years). 43 volunteers started bright and early to make the beach in San Antonio look it's best.

Great job, PIC!