When I was a kid, I used to hide (and sometimes throw away) my mom's cigarettes. It's true. Thankfully, my mom got the hint and quit smoking somewhere around 20 years ago. Speaking of 20. A major milestone in the 20 minute clean ups has been reached...
We've officially passed the 20,000 mark. YIKES!! There was a time when I would have never thought that it was possible. NOW... I wonder what's next?? How many more cigarette butts are we going to pick up?? I'll tell you how many.... as many as it takes for people to get the message. And a reality that I've come to accept is that it could be thousands more...
Maybe we'll hit 50,000? Think about it. It may have taken us 69 clean ups to pass the 20,000 mark, but-- since I started this project at the beginning of August-- the majority of those clean ups were done off-season. In fact, 47 of the 69 clean ups were done between October and April. Hmmm... during the filming of my FilterForGood Film, I had 11,332 cigarette butts. Since December, we have added over 9,000 cigarette butts to the tally. Seriously, I count them all and I can't get over it. My brain is practically spinning.... and I can't help but wonder whatthe 2 busiest beach months will bring??
*sigh* A lot more of everything, that I am sure of.
On Monday... I took my three kids to the library and to Coastal Cupcakes. Then I asked them which beach access they would like to go to... in unison they yelled, "The rock!!". At access 16, there is rock that my kids LOVE to jump off of... you can see them in all their happiness jumping off of it in the FilterForGood Film(which, by the way is now on YouTube!!)....
Having just been to access 16... I decided to do 20 minutes at access 15 and while I did my kids played under the pier.... digging a hole....looking for sand crabs. So... it was just me... and my two hands.
With this 20 minute clean up... I've hit a milestone. Surpassing the 16,000 mark.
16,084 to be exact.(...and I'm not stopping anytime soon.)
I can honestly say that when I started this project... I never (in a million years) would have ever imagined picking up that many cigarette butts. (who could imagine that?!?) I'm so extremely grateful to everyone that has shown their support and encouraged me along the way.... and have to give special thanks to everyone that has joined us at Wrightsville Beach to do a 20 minute clean up. Mark, Zak, Liz, Ryan and Gabby, Tracy with Liam and Emma, Bonnie, Butch, Goffinet, my in-laws, and my mom and sister :) LOVE and GRATITUDE.
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."~ Margaret Mead
Pay no attention to the numbers on the containers... I used to know how many were in each container... but after filming (some were dumped out to get close up shots of the butts).... I lost track. ;)
