The World's Most Beautiful Beaches!

This is, by far, the best place on earth on a September day like this one...

International Coastal Cleanup Day - This Saturday

Thanks to this online Newsherald Article, I know that I won't be able to sleep in this Saturday. Hope you'll join me.

Free Trip to Paradise this Saturday

Just meet us down on the beach at Pier Park this Saturday at 9 AM. For two solid hours, you'll be able to walk the world's most beautiful beaches, enjoying a true paradise on earth. Along the way, we'll pick up trash, but that will just enhance your experience. Organized by Bay Families with Dogs... let's go help!

Results of Alternative Spring Break Cleanup

LSU student volunteers did a great job last week. Their immediate ideas were the same as the previous schools'... more cans, more bags, more recycle bins. Don't allow vendors on the sand to hand out anything that will become trash on the beach. You know, more common-sense stuff you'd hope to hear from today's brightest young minds.

Antoine, one of the volunteers who looked like a lineman on the Tiger's National Championship D, came up with a fun idea: have a contest to see which school can turn in the most cans. Give those guys something to win, and you might have a fun way to keep the beach clean.

Regardless of all the ideas, most of us realized it will be much easier to prevent litter than to clean it up.

This is just the beginning... these students proved that there are such things as great spring breakers, and I believe they will continue to play a part in helping Bay County find better ways to preserve our most valuable asset.

Welcome LSU!

A smaller group than last week in numbers, but equally big in desire to help keep the beach clean! Stay tuned for LSU's progress and ideas to clean up the trash!

Thank you ASU and ECU!

As you can see in the photo, you were missed this weekend!

The 28 student volunteers and leaders who visited our beach last week made what should be a great impact in our community and on the image of Panama City Beach.

Only the lack of attention and follow-through by the community and business leaders would result in a wasted effort.

These brainiacs and civil servants came up with the following ideas and actions they will take:

1. Will write to the corporations who handed out samples, brochures and any other material that eventually became trash in the sand.

2. Will write our community leaders to ask for their help in preventing trash on the beach.

3. Wants more signage and enforcement of litter laws.

4. Wants bags available at the public beach entrances and at the hotel/condo lounges (beach services).

5. MTV and other companies denied permits to be on the beach unless they provide complete prevention and pickup.

6. No glass or Styrofoam allowed on sand.

7. Have manned recycling stations where students can cash in their recyclables for shirts, sunscreen, hats, or even cash.

8. Ensure that volunteers have "Volunteer" on their shirts so the other students don't think that trash pickup is a free service.

9. Get the local schools involved to keep the beach clean as a part of their physical fitness program. (Picking up trash for 4 hours in the sand IS A WORKOUT!)

10. Will keep up with the information provided by the Surfrider Foundation, and hopefully see our beach one day with no trash in the sand.

Again, students and team leaders, I can't thank you enough for your effort and ideas.

K9 in Top 10

It was a little sad for me to see that pet waste is very dangerous to a beach's health. Some may say "that should be obvious," but unfortunately I know there is also human waste and many forms of wildlife waste on our beaches. So I thought a healthy, vaccinated dog's waste wouldn't be much of a problem in the whole scheme of things.

But the Surfrider Foundation provided our volunteers with "10 ways to help our oceans, waves and beaches," and picking up after your pet was #1 on the list.

Therefore, our team went to Bay County's new "Dog Beach" for a cleanup Thursday. Happily, they only found one instance of waste in the sand, and one in the parking lot. That's not bad when you consider how much human waste is on our beaches too (of course they found hundreds and hundreds of cigarette butts at this public beach, which is the #1 litter component found on any beach and in any public space in America.)

PLEASE pick up after your pet wherever you go, especially at our new dog-friendly beach. Thanks as always to the Bay Families with Dogs for making Dog Beach happen.

P.S. The students were so thrilled when the PCB Police Beach Patrol found them at the far end of the beach, away from their normal Spring Break hot-spot, and reported that they were sorely missed back on Thomas Dr. It's amazing what 30 people can do in a morning to a trashed beach!

Press On!

(Please click images to go to media websites... there are videos on all three sites, including the News Herald. I do not know how long these links will be active)

Every community effort is greatly enhanced when the message is spread by the media. The student volunteers and I are very grateful for the response we received this week from the local Bay County Media. Thank you to all the journalists who did a great job spreading our story!

P.S. We did get a great plug for Royal American Hospitality on the live morning show on channel 7 this morning, but we didn't get them thanked in any of the other articles or interviews. Without Royal American Hospitality housing and feeding our volunteers, this effort would not have happened! Thank you again RAH!

P.P.S. The NewsHerald said I was a "marketing consultant for the TDC..." not quite. I'm a marketing consultant, and I am on the TDC marketing committee. But hey, Mr. Rowe, if you read this... maybe it's not a bad idea for me to become a marketing consultant for the TDC. ;c)

Pitching In

The student volunteers quickly realized we (Bay County) were not recycling this beach trash (most of it easily recycled), and so that put a new twist on our cleanup.

Cleanup and recycle. What a concept.

A new local company, Curbside Recycling Service, came to the rescue. They donated two large boxes of recycling bags for the student volunteers to separate and recycle. They have a big opportunity to build a great business here in Bay County. Call Ricky at 850-271-9328 for more information.

The TDC met today, and I asked them to realize that college students can visit our beach, pick up trash for a day and quickly determine our first step needs to be prevention. More cans (at the entrances), trash bags for those who do not bring their own to the beach, and recycle bins / dumpsters at strategic locations.

Day One

Well, one thing's for sure... our volunteers won't get bored.

And here are a few of them getting ready to Keep The Beach Clean!

Welcome to Panama City Beach, Spring Break 2008!

Panama City Beach will host over 50 college students this Spring Break who are volunteering to remove trash from the beaches of Bay county. The first group of students will arrive March 8, and clean the beaches through March 22. One group will come in the first weekend in April to do a final cleanup.

Four major universities, through the coordination of Break Away, will send students to spend their alternative spring breaks on the white sands of the World's Most Beautiful Beaches. Instead of partying, these alternative breakers will be picking up litter, measuring the amount of trash and educating the community and their fellow college students about the importance of keeping the beach clean.

The four participating universities are Appalachian State University, East Carolina University, Louisiana State University and Florida State University. (FSU is still in the process of getting approval, but we're pretty sure they're coming.)

The corporate sponsor who will house and feed the students is Royal American Hospitality, a resort and hotel management company. The Surfrider Foundation will provide educational materials.

Thousands of college students arrive every year to play at the most popular U.S. Spring Break destination, but many spring breakers have proven to leave their scruples back home and choose to trash the beach (along with their brain cells and reputations). This first annual "Keep The Beach Clean Spring Break 2008" will introduce a new way of thinking for the average spring breaker. In addition to helping clean up the spring break trash problem, it is also intended to clean up the image that these college students leave on the community each year.

For more information, please contact Kirk Lancaster at 404-429-5386, or info@KeepTheBeachClean.com

Goals of the program:

1. Educate student volunteers about the importance of fighting beach and ocean/gulf pollution.
2. Have the student volunteers spread the information they learn.
3. Inspire the traditional spring breaker not to leave trash on the beaches.
4. Prove to the community / world that many college students care about their communities and environment.
5. Prove to the "anti-spring break" citizens of Bay County that they can quit complaining and actually do something about the problems that certain tourist segments bring to our beautiful beaches.

Program Points:

1. Students will be cleaning the beaches Monday through Friday, March 8 - 22. One last group will come in the weekend of April 4-6 to do a final spring break cleanup and trash analysis.
2. KeepTheBeachClean.com is the organizing sponsor.
3. Royal American Hospitality is the corporate sponsor.
4. Surfrider Foundation is providing educational support.
5. Break Away (http://www.alternativebreaks.org/) is the coordinating sponsor

Thanks to PanamaCityBeach.com for helping us spread the word to students.