In the sifting sands along the Ocean Ridge shore, there is one constant: Gary Solomon.
Solomon is the founder of Sand Sifters, and one Saturday morning a month, he and volunteers he has recruited descend on the beach to pluck the cans, bottles, cigarette butts and the other detritus left by careless beachgoers and the tides. It started small, with an afternoon stroll.
“I’d always done volunteer work and one day I took a walk on the beach, noticed the trash and decided to join a group,” he said. But there was no such group.
Solomon, 48, decided to start one himself. With a few friends who live near him in suburban Boynton Beach, he organized the first cleanup five years ago.
Today, Sand Sifters boasts hundreds of volunteers, an e-mail list of 1,100, programs for after-school groups, and solid working relationships with governments ranging from Boynton Beach and Ocean Ridge to Palm Beach County.
“One thing goes to the next,” he said. “We’ve won awards. We take the award, smile, and then put on our gloves and go pick up more trash.”
Solomon is especially proud of a deal struck with county officials to post signs and trash cans at entries to all county beachfront parks, asking people to deposit their cigarette butts before heading to the beach and on their way out. They should be in place by next month, with an official unveiling July 18 at Gulfstream Park. Cigarette butts and plastics are among the banes of beaches because of the harm they can cause to sea creatures, especially turtles. Those items, and ribbons, balloons and shards of plastic get twisted in seaweed and wash out to sea where turtles might eat them, with potentially fatal results.
What’s the oddest thing he’s found on cleanup? “Headless chickens.” Likely from some Santeria rite, he said.
Dr. Joseph Belmonte, an Ocean Ridge resident and now a frequent volunteer, is an admirer.
When he moved to the town in 2001, Belmonte said, he “was very surprised to find the beaches in Ocean Ridge to be rather trashy relative to other beaches along the Florida coast.
“Then, like the Lone Ranger on his beautiful white horse, along came Gary Solomon with his newly formed band of volunteers who felt that our beaches must be made beautiful once again.
“It is a sight to behold as the band of volunteers spread out along the beaches of Ocean Ridge wearing their Sand Sifter shirts and Sand Sifter caps, gathering the unwanted trash in order to make our beaches pristine, yet at the same time leaving these beaches in their natural setting,” Belmonte said. Solomon is pleased with the effort so far. “We’re happy. We want to keep growing and reach younger people so they can pass it on,” he said.
“It makes my heart feel good. People of all ages [Volunteers range from 4 to 92] come out and really want to do it.”
Gary Solomon was nominated to be a Coastal Star by Ocean Ridge resident Dr. Joseph Belmonte. For more information about Sand Sifters, please visit: www.sandsifters.org
Comments