Huge turnout at the MLK Day 2023 Clean-Up Event

We would like to thank everyone, who came out to our MLK day clean-up event this year. Even though it was 35 degrees F, when we were setting up with with frost on the grass in the morning, more than 150 people came out to the street/cemetery clean-up event. 

"Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?'" 

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Elizabeth Jennings, a local St. Augustine realtor, and parents advisor for the West Augustine Nature Society, provided a continental breakfast at the MLK Day Event.

Today with the help of several organizations, including the West Augustine Improvement Association, Learn to Read St. Johns, St. Gerard Campus, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, the SAHS Interact Club, SAHS Girl Soccer Team, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., Sigma Pi Lambda Chapter, the Nu Epsilon Sigma Chapter of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc., & the National Honors Society from Beachside High School we were able to fill 81 trash bags and collect 9 tires as well as clean up the Pinehurst and San Sebastian Cemeteries.

St. Augustine High School Interact Club and National Honors Society at the St. Augustine MLK Day Event at the Pinehurst & San Sebastian Cemeteries.

Beachside High school National Honors Society at the St. Augustine MLK Day Event at the Pinehurst & San Sebastian Cemeteries.

Sigma Pi Lambda Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. at the St. Augustine MLK Day Event at the Pinehurst & San Sebastian Cemeteries.

The Nu Epsilon Sigma Chapter of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc. at the St. Augustine MLK Day Event at the Pinehurst & San Sebastian Cemeteries. 

MLK Silent March Downtown.

Ben & Jerry's Downtown St. Augustine

We would also like to thank Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream for providing 2 free scoops of ice-cream for everyone who came out today to volunteer with us. It was especially needed after 2 in a half hours of cleaning up the streets and walking in the Silent March honoring MLK Day of Service right after.

The next cemetery clean-up event will be on March 25th, 2023. Please check the West Augustine Improvement Association on Facebook for more updates on the event.

Also, the next community clean-up event will be the annual Earth Day, Every Day Clean-Up Event on April 22nd, 2023, from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m.

If you would like to be included in our clean-up alerts, email us at Westaugustinenaturesociety(@)gmail.com.

Skyler Kai Rodney, 11th grade, St. Augustine High School, St. Augustine, Florida.