Front page news and a few more pictures

Yesterday's 1020 on 10/20 went better than I could have ever hoped. When we first floated the idea of recruiting 1020 volunteers to clean our island on one day it seemed like an insurmountable challenge. I never expected to meet our goal three times over. And oh yeah, we were on the front page of the Saipan Tribune.

It was a really exciting day. I drove around visiting as many of the cleanup sites as I could.

I started out at 7 AM. My first stop was with the Marianas Eye Institute volunteers picking up trash along Beach Road. They were led by their CEO Russ Quinn.

My next stop was Java Joe's for a hot cup of black coffee. Along the way I saw volunteers from DPL and I think NMC cleaning up the road

After that I drove to Kagman. Along the way I saw volunteers from MOVER cleaning up Isa Drive and the Lt. Governor's office and family cleaning up As Lito Road.

The Kagman Komunidat Association, along with the Lao Lao Bay Golf Resort, Kagman Highschool, Kagman Elementary School, and Cha Cha Oceanview Junior High School, were cleaning up the Kagman Peninsula.

Here are pictures of some of the participants:

After Kagman I drove to Koblerville to visit with Cinta Kaipat, her office, her family, and CNMI Forestry. They were continuing with the Beautify CNMI! project to build a public park at the old substation and abandoned airfield.

Here is a picture of Cinta with her sister Vi, nephew Kyle, and Ben Cepeda from CNMI Forestry:

After that I headed North, passing by the Mayor's Office working in San Antonio. Then I stopped to visit with the Aquarius Hotel, the Hunter family and DPH cleaning up the beach in Chalan Kanoa (where they planted over 40 coconuts), before heading to 13 Fisherment to visit with DEQ.

DEQ, in addition to cleaning up the beach and the road, planted 25 coconut trees and painted one of the pala palas with paint donated from Sherwin Williams.

After that, I visited with Hopwood Junior High School cleaning up their school and their adjacent beach and then PIC cleaning up the beach south of their hotel.

It was truly an amazing day! I didn't get pictures of everyone I saw, but I'm expecting all of the adopting groups to send me pictures along with reports of their cleanups. I'll post those stories and pictures on the Beautify CNMI! website when I get them.

The total right now for the number of participants stands at 3210, but that number should increase as other volunteer groups get back to me with their number of participants.

The 1020 on 10/20 cleanup was coordinated by Marianas RC&D, a proud partner of Beautify CNMI!