On Saturday, May 18, the North Carolina Coastal Federation’s Wanchese office helped the Town of Manteo with their Spring Litter Pickup. These biannual cleanup efforts are led by community volunteer Sarah Benson and are sponsored by the Town of Manteo.

“We’re so grateful for all these volunteers that help keep our waterfront clean and healthy and send this important message to others,” said Benson.

While the pickup mainly takes place on land, this year, the federation provided assistance with its boat.

Over a two-hour span, federation staff and volunteers combed the waterfront marshes to collect washed up debris, that wasn’t accessible by land. Volunteers covered about two miles of the waterfront and collected several pieces of wood, a piece of a floating dock, a kite board, soccer ball and even a metal detector. Other various consumer debris were found such as cans, bottles and Styrofoam.

Other volunteers traveled by foot to different neighborhoods throughout Manteo, filling trash bags and bringing back treasures to share, including a broken skateboard and a pile of change, totaling $2.47, that was generously donated to the federation!

In the same week, the federation’s southeast and northeast offices also worked with Worrell 1000 Reunion Race to clean up the beaches.

10 Worrell volunteers in Kill Devil Hills cleaned up 72 pounds of debris. Watch the Facebook live videos with more information in each region. At the southeast cleanup, 10 volunteers collected 38 pounds of trash.

Northeast video here.

Southeast video here.