By Joe Jackman
With the guidance of the Plastics Industry Association’s Future Leaders in Plastics (FLiP) Community Impact Task Group, Aurora Division of the United States Naval Sea Cadet Corps had a clean-up in Montgomery May 20.
Aurora Division cadets gathered at VFW Post 7452 motivated to make a difference and remove mismanaged waste from the environment. The event began with Morning Colors at 8 a.m. and opening remarks from Aurora Division Commanding Officer, LCDR Daniel Wayeshe, NSCC, who covered the importance of giving back to the community in the form of waste clean-ups.
The event was held in collaboration with the Fox Valley Park District and the Future Leaders in Plastics Community Task Group. Aurora Division offers thanks to Montgomery VFW Post 7452 for allowing us to use their property as a rallying point for the day.
The site chosen was along the Fox River in Montgomery from the Montgomery dam to Mill Street on both banks of the of the Fox River, just less than one mile of shoreline and the adjacent park’s areas. Aurora Division cadets collected 12 bags of garbage of almost 300 pounds. The cadets had fun during the cleanup and were surprised at the amount of waste that was removed. They asked to repeat this community service event in the future. One cadet commented on how what they did to help a family of geese that passed on the shoreline.
The plastics industry is committed to environmental solutions that support a circular economy: We LOVE plastic but hate plastic waste. Future Leaders in Plastics (FLiP) representative and former Aurora Division cadet, Dale Jackman, expressed gratitude for the cadets who dedicated their time to picking up not only mismanaged plastic, but metal, paper, and glass litter as well.
The United States Naval Sea Cadets Corps is a National federally-chartered non-profit, civilian youth organization, for young people ages 10-18 supported by the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Coast Guard founded in 1958. The mission of the sea cadets is to build leaders of character and offers practical and immersion of hands-on instruction in the topics to include medicine, aviation, sailing, STEM, police/forensics, survival/land navigation, journalism, culinary, and SCUBA.
For more information on the Sea Cadets visit seacadets.org.