Celebrate Earth Day with Kelly Street cleanup, Sat

In celebration of the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, more than 100 volunteers, group leaders, and activity coordinators will assemble at 10 am, Saturday, April 24 to clean up the the Kelly Avenue/Street corridor from Francis State Beach all the way to Main Street.

“The original idea was to just gather a few friends together and clean up garbage on Kelly Street,” says organizer Joe Fullerton, a resident of the Kelly Avenue neighborhood. “It’s evolved into a community effort to honor and protect our most precious resources, not just the ocean and open space but also our people.”

Starting at the beach, the clean-up brigade will move up Kelly to the downtown area and finish with a celebration and closing ceremony at Mac Dutra Park. Children can take part in special activities like Litter Bingo and Trash to Treasure, and all volunteers will receive reusable shopping bags stuffed with goodies.

Several downtown area businesses, including La Di Da Cafe, the Art Attic, San Benito House, and Chez Shea, are supporting the effort by offering special discounts to the volunteer brigade. Other sponsors and donors include Allied Waste Management, Save Our Shores, Sam’s Chowder House, and the City of Half Moon Bay.

Besides picking up garbage, volunteers can choose to make a pledge to do something small to help the community over the next year. The group hopes to collect signatures and use this event as a launching point for future collaborative community action.

Interested volunteers can join the party at 10am at Francis State Beach. For more details, see the event Facebook page, http://bit.ly/hmb-kellyst.