Girl Scouts add trash bag dispensers, signage to beach accesses

A new addition to four St. Simons beach accesses will increase the ease with which beachgoers can help keep the shores pristine. Four Girl Scouts created new dog waste bag dispensers for beach crossovers and accompanying signage to inform visitors to the beach that they can contribute plastic grocery bags or take the provided bags for dog waste and litter collection.

“We did a bag storage for people to use,” said Gracie Worth, a ninth grader and Girl Scout Cadette member. “They’re easy to grab and pick up the litter on the beach or dog waste. It’s just to keep the beach cleaner and make it easier for people to help clean up.”

Worth completed the project with fellow Troop 30024 members Hazel Morris, Rachel Steffey and Kendall Lemmond, each of whom is in eighth grade and a Cadette member. They’ve been working since August to earn the Silver Award, among the top achievements for Girl Scouts.

The GirlScouts partnered with Keep Golden Isles Beautiful and Glynn County Public Works to complete the project.

“Keep Golden Isles Beautiful is a big part of cleaning up the beaches here, so we knew it was a good resource to go to,” Worth said.

They met recently with KGIB Executive Director Lea King-Badyna and with Jack Franklin, division manager of public works and park maintenance for Glynn County, who installed the dispensers and signage.

“This was a true collaboration between the Girl Scouts, Glynn County and Keep Golden Isles Beautiful,” King-Badyna said.

Melinda Lemmond, Kendall’s mom, said the troop members plan to create a commercial with information about how to use the new dispensers and will post the information on social media.

Other dispensers will be at Myrtle Street, Massengale Park and Driftwood Drive beach accesses.

The community is encouraged to bring and take plastic bags to support cleanup efforts on the beach, King-Badyna said.

Many caring individuals take the time to keep Glynn County’s beaches clean, said Kendall. Their project aims to further that work.

“Now that we’ve done this, I see how many do litter on the beach and how much other people kind of clean up for what they do,” she said. “I appreciate what they do for our beaches and the

Golden Isles.”