Net Removal - Kalama Beach Park - 808 Cleanups Assist

​Experienced one of those legendary community stories this morning...

Woke up and saw a post on 808 Cleanups (a tremendous local beach clean up organization) about a net on Kailua Beach Park that some other good sumaritans had pulled out of the ocean but that needed to be broken down to be removed from the beach (the tangled mess without question weighed more than 1,000 lbs.)

​Hans and I jumped to the case - it was like throwing up the 'Bat symbol' lol - and took to the beach with the machetes we use for our business (Roots & Branches) to see what we could do to help.

We were able to break the net and rope mass down into smaller sections and dragged them down the beach approximately 300-400 yards to the beach access where we would then be able to arrange to pick them up at the road.

It took a few hours, but it was made shorter by a number of people who were just passing by who jumped at the chance to haul a section for us. (Always so, so heartwarming to see that kind of impromptu volunteerism!) A mother and her two kids grabbed a section, a female jogger grabbed a giant section on her way past and marched it down the beach, exclaiming, 'I need the leg work out this morning, and gah, can't be a better way than this!', a little boy who walked up and added some plastic to our pile he had scavenged.

On the way down the beach access with the sections Hans' friend Cindy saw him and called in Parks and Rec. Soon Wayne and Teryl arrived from Parks & Rec and were so friendly and helpful in getting it loaded into a truck. 

And then as serendipity would have it, we bumped into Joanna from 808 Cleanups who was able to close the loop with her group as well that the net had been removed.

We sure do love this town and these people! Its amazing how fun volunteering is, the connections it leads to, and the good positive energy it engenders.

If you aren't doing so already, go coach, go volunteer, go clean up your neighborhood, paint over some graffiti, or whatever else you can to be involved in your community.

Its so much more fun than you can possibly know until you get your jersey dirty!
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TL:DR; 
Q: What's more fun than laying on the beach? 
A: Saving the beach!