Bay Village waterways clean-up set for May 19

The Bay Village Waterways Clean-up Day, sponsored by The Bay Village Foundation, Bay High Project Earth Club, the Bay Village Green Team and the Scouts, will be held on Saturday, May 19. All are welcome! Volunteers should meet at the Bay Middle School cafeteria to sign in before 11:00 a.m. Participants of all ages will go out in groups to clean up Bay's waterways and the surrounding areas. Children should be accompanied by a parent/guardian or they should bring a signed permission slip.

The city will provide trash bags and gloves for use in picking up the debris along Cahoon Creek, Columbia Park, Bay Boat Club, and other portions of the Lake Erie waterfront. The groups work for more than two hours and finish up back at the middle school, where The Bay Village Foundation will provide lunch for the volunteers.

Chairman Mike Romanchek and student trustees, Maggie Williams, Maddie Edgerly, Everest McKenna and Chris Eifert will coordinate and deliver the lunch for the hungry volunteers.  Afterward, city employees will pick up the bagged debris at the middle school.

The Bay Village Foundation began the Clean-up Day program in 2006 with the help of the city's Service Department and with the support of then-Mayor Deborah Sutherland. Foundation trustees, families, Bay students, and Boy Scout troops joined in the initial effort. Shortly thereafter, Mayor Sutherland founded the Bay Village Green Team and members of that group have participated every year since.  

Since the Foundation began this activity in 2006, Bay Waterway Clean-up Day has blossomed into a well-organized, twice-yearly project headed by the Project Earth Club of Bay High School, now under the direction of Joe Cheney, Bay High science teacher and leader of the club.

Along the waterfronts, conditions can be very muddy and wet, even on nice days, so participants are asked to wear clothes that they don’t mind getting dirty or wet. Rain or shine, the Waterways Clean-up Day will commence as planned. Most volunteers wear rain/work boots and find the gloves provided by the city to be very useful. Students, Scouts, parents and other individuals who are looking to better their community and the environment are  welcome to participate.