Chesapeake Bay Foundation

Special Section: Combined Federal Campaign 2009

Military Volunteers Have Important Role in Clean the Bay Day Success

By Andrea Moran
Chesapeake Bay Found. Hampton Roads Communications Coordinator

For an area such as Hampton Roads, protecting and cleaning the waters of the Chesapeake Bay is vitally important. For the past 21 years, military men and women at branches throughout the area have played a vital role in Clean the Bay Day, the annual litter pickup event organized by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF). In fact, military personnel helped form the group that coordinated the first ever Clean the Bay Day in 1989. Since then the Hampton Roads military community, especially the Navy, has provided more than 30,500 personnel for the annual cleanup effort – nearly one third of the volunteers who have ever participated, according to Sharon Smith, CBF’s Clean the Bay Day coordinator.

This year on June 5 and 6, volunteers from these bases came out in force for the event: Naval Station Norfolk, Naval Medical Center Portsmouth, Naval Amphibious Base Little Creek, Fort Story, Naval Air Station Oceana and Dam Neck Annex, Fort Monroe, Langley Air Force Base, Fort Eustis, Yorktown Naval Weapons Station and Cheatham Annex, and Fort Norfolk – Army Corps of Engineers.

“Without the help of our military friends, Clean the Bay Day would not be nearly as successful,” Smith commented. “The Chesapeake Bay Foundation is deeply grateful for the military’s commitment to cleaner waterways and a healthier Bay.”

Statewide between June 5 and 13, more than 7,000 volunteers including those in 175 boats removed 209,000 pounds of unhealthy debris and litter from 450 miles of shorelines, parks and waterways for Clean the Bay Day. Total, the cumulative results over the past 21 years and the numbers are even more impressive. Since 1989, 101,800 Clean the Bay Day volunteers have collected 5,104,838 pounds of debris.

Much of this trash comes from our streets and parking lots as storm water runoff carries it through storm drains, directly into rivers, streams and the Bay. It is not only unsightly and unhealthy, but also poses a threat to wildlife and can block sunlight needed for underwater grasses to grow and create a healthier ecosystem.

While environmental stewardship is the most visible result of Clean the Bay Day, teamwork, camaraderie and fun are added benefits. Just ask any of the military men and women who sign up for it year after year. Keeping waterways clean of debris is not only a Bay booster – it is also a morale booster.

To support the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, designate CFC #11325.