During our spring break, brothers of the Florida
Chapter performed our first ever Spring Break Service Trip to Key West. I began
planning this trip during the fall semester when I contacted the Florida Keys
National Marine Sanctuary to see if we could volunteer with their agency. The
sanctuary protects approximately 3,000 square nautical miles of coral reefs,
sea grass meadows, mangroves, and sea flats with the goal of educating the
public about the varieties of impacts, pressures, and threats to the Florida
Keys ecosystem. After the sanctuary agreed to host us for the week, I filled
out all the necessary paperwork required to work with the a government agency. I then
was contacted by Todd Hitchins, volunteer director, about finalizing the plans
of each day and their corresponding clean ups. As a result we planned that:
-Saturday,
March 1: depart Gainesville, arrive in the Keys
-Sunday,
March 2: orientation at the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary’s
Eco-Discovery Center
-Monday,
March 3: kayaking mangrove clean up at Sugarloaf Key
-Tuesday,
March 4: walking shoreline clean up at Boca Chica Key
-Wednesday,
March 5: boating to Women Key and perform a shoreline clean up
-Thursday,
March 6: perform service at local historic church
-Friday,
March 7: snorkeling at Florida Reef and picnic at Fort Zachary Taylor
-Saturday,
March 8: depart Key West, arrive at Gainesville
During this one week of service, we collected over
a ton of trash. The brothers were truly astonished at the variety and sheer amount of marine debris
that is washed up onto our shores and mangroves. I think this trip truly
enlightened the brothers of our Florida Chapter about the need to help clean
our oceans, and become more environmentally conscious. However, not only did
this trip educate our chapter, it really bonded everyone that went on the trip.
Originally posted by Jennifer W. West