It’s not everyday that we get a chance to do something so good that the effects are felt globally. We get that chance on Saturday, Sept. 25, at the fall Texas Adopt-A-Beach Cleanup.

Keep Port Aransas Beautiful, in a joint effort with the Texas General Land Office, is hosting the semi-annual cleanup as part of a statewide effort. Port Aransas is one of 27 sites along the Texas coast involved in the one-day cleanup program. The Texas beach cleanup is part of the Ocean Conservancy’s International Coastal Cleanup. On the same day we are cleaning Texas beaches, more than halfa million people in 100 countries remove millions of pounds of trash from beaches and waterways all over the world.

Many volunteers may not realize the cleanup effort also involves data collection that helps to reduce the litter problem, at the source.

Volunteers are given data cards to record information such as the source and type of debris collected. The Ocean Conservancy analyzes the data collected to produce a global snapshot and country-by-country, state-by-state breakdown of trash in the world’s oceans.

The reports generated from the data collected have played an integral part in the passage of international treaties and laws aimed at reducing the amount of offshore dumping. In July of 1991, the International Maritime Organization designated the Gulf of Mexico and the Wider Caribbean as a “special area” where the dumping of trash, with the exception of finely ground food scraps, is prohibited.

According to the Texas Adopt-A-Beach Web site, trash dumped anywhere in the Gulf is likely to end up on a Texas beach due to tide patterns in the Gulf of Mexico.

Besides being an environmental priority, keeping Texas beaches clean effects coastal tourism and commercial fishing, both of which demand clean beaches and a healthy Gulf to thrive.

Since the Texas Adopt-A-Beach Cleanup inception in 1986, more than 397,000 volunteers have removed 7,700 tons of trash from Texas beaches and waterways.

Volunteers wishing to help at Saturday’s cleanup effort should check in on the beach at Avenue G at 8:30 a.m. Saturday, to register and be assigned an area. The cleanup will go on, rain or shine, from 9 a.m. to noon.

Individuals, families, organizations and youth groups are invited to participate.

Volunteers should wear shoes, a hat and sunscreen. All cleanup supplies will be furnished.

Hot dogs and beverages, provided by the Family Center IGA and H-E-B, and cookies donated by the Omni Hotel in Corpus Christi, will be served to all volunteers from noon to 1:30 p.m. at the Fred Rhodes Memorial Pavilion at Roberts Point Park. Beverages will be kept cold by ice donated by Quality Liquor.

The Port Aransas Chamber of Commerce sponsors Jetty Boat fares out of Fisherman’s Wharf for volunteers being transported to St. Joseph Island to clean up that beach. Allied Waste will donate a dumpster for the trash. The St. Joseph Island detail is filled to capacity, according to KPAB event organizer Deno Fabrie.

Those who are unable to participate, but still want to support the volunteer effort, can make a tax-deductible donation online at www.texasadoptabeach. org.

For more information contact Fabrie at deno. fabrie@texasadoptabeach.org or 749-0256.