South Florida Sun-Sentinel Palm Beach (Sunday)
Beachcombers seek world record by cleaning up South Florida sand
By Wayne K. Roustan
Hundreds of South Florida volunteers were trying to set a Guinness World Record on Saturday for the largest cleanup of a continuous coastline in one day.
Organizers Derek McNulty and Garret Nathan — working with Its-Elemental.net — came up with the idea about three months ago to not only aid the environment but also help people feel good about themselves at the end of a tumultuous 2020.
“I felt like, let’s do a feelgood thing,” McNulty said. “Let’s make an effort, make a change, and go big. Just go big.”
He said f our to 10 people registered at each of the 190 cleanup locations, but between two and 30 showed up at each to sweep the 120 miles of beach from Hobe Sound in Martin County to Virginia Key in Miami-Dade.
The groups covered half-mile stretches of sand and took before-and-after pictures of the beach. Participants also took screenshots of their GPS locations on a map for world record verification, McNulty said.
“The compilation of that information will be quite the task for us in the next couple of days,” he said.
Local businesses, community organizations, the Boy Scouts, and other groups were among the volunteers that were socially distanced during the event. McNulty didn’t feel the wearing of face masks outdoors needed to be enforced.
“Masks are always suggested but if there’s a person that doesn’t understand the importance of wearing a mask by now, they’ve been hiding under a rock,” he said.
Participants were also encouraged to bring an unwrapped toy to be collected and given to children in South Florida hospitals.
“With people being isolated for so long by COVID-19, it’s nice to be outside on such a gorgeous day getting the fresh air and being part of the community,” he said.
Wayne K. Roustan can be reached at wkroustan@ sunsentinel.com or 561379-6119 or on Twitter @ WayneRoustan