Milford teen plans 15th annual beach cleanup
MILFORD — Four-year-old Mackenzie Powers would point out pieces of trash during family walks along Milford’s shorelines. Now a college student, she is about to host her 15th annual “Mackenzie’s Beach Clean Up.”
The concept began when Mackenzie Powers saw a Nickelodeon program that featured a boy picking up and recycling trash in a park.
“I went to my parents and said ‘I want to do that at my beach,’” said Mackenzie Powers, now 18 and a student at Stetson University in DeLand, Florida. “It took a bit of convincing because, obviously, at 4, people don’t take you seriously.”
Her father, John Powers, contacted a city alderman, who invited her to pitch her idea of a beach cleanup to members of the Walnut Beach Association.
“We wrote out a little speech,” John Powers said. “She was so tiny I had to put her on a chair. I popped her up on a chair so they could see her.”
The nonprofit association, which promotes the Walnut Beach area, gave funds for the first event, which organizers used to pay for cleaning bags and gloves.
That cleanup drew about 50 volunteers. Since then, turnout has exceeded 200 participants in 2018, 2019 and 2021, organizers said.
According to John Powers, the number of large discarded objects, such as tires, couches and kitchen sinks, found during cleanups have decreased over the years. For example, he estimates volunteers found an average of about 15 car tires during earlier events. In recent years, that number has averaged about five, he said.
Mackenzie Powers hopes her annual cleanup might have contributed to a drop in large-sized trash.
“As I’ve gotten older, we’ve had more articles come out, videos that people did on the cleanup, more sponsorships,” she said. “So I think as the word is getting out there, people are realizing, you know, we need to protect this place.”
Still, organizers say cigarette butts, food, plastic bottle caps and alcohol bottles have been among the trash consistently picked up by volunteers over the years.
Mackenzie Powers said her final examinations will end days before the cleanup, and she plans to fly home from Florida for the event. However, she said this will be her last year because next year’s finals schedule won’t allow her to participate.
“I want to be hands-on with the event, and being at school, I can’t be as apparent in the planning,” she said.
Still, she wants people to continue cleaning the beach every year.
“I want this to run as long as possible, really, because I want little Mackenzie’s dream to come true and have people cleaning the beach every single year,” Mackenzie Powers said.
The final clean up, sponsored in part by The Clean Earth Project, an environmentally friendly clothing brand, will take place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on May 6. Organizers will set up a check-in table for volunteers at Walnut Beach and Silver Sands State Park in Milford. There, they will provide cleaning supplies, including those provided by sponsors Garbo Grabber, a Stratford-based litter cleanup kit manufacturer, and the Stratford Home Depot. The first 100 volunteers who show up will also get a coupon for free ice cream from Walnut Beach Creamery.
Volunteers can also pre-register for the cleanup online at The Clean Earth Project’s website.