Alexandria Crew Boosters Participate in Waterfront Cleanup Day at Oronoco Park

A group of nearly 40 rowers, parents and other volunteers gathered at Oronoco Park in Old Town this past Saturday morning for the Alexandria Crew Boosters' Second Annual Waterfront Cleanup Day.

Held as part of the Ocean Conservancy's International Coastal Cleanup campaign and the Clean Virginia Waterways initiative, the cleanup took place in conjunction with the City of Alexandria's Office of Environmental Quality, which provided the volunteers with garbage bags, gloves and litter tongs for the effort.

According to Karen Lemke, who organized the cleanup for the Crew Boosters, volunteers filled the garbage bags with plastic bottles, Styrofoam and other debris that littered the Potomac shoreline in front of Oronoco Park. Along the way, she added, the volunteers pulled some unusual items out of the Potomac as well, including five white burlap sacks, each the size of a large banner, and a coconut that had seen better days.

Jesse Maines, who works as a senior environmental specialist with the City of Alexandria's Office of Environmental Quality and who coordinated Saturday's cleanup, expressed his appreciation for those who turned out to help.

Rowers (from left to right) Greg Montenegro, Madison Weitekamp, Chris Porter and Carter Weitekamp take to a different kind of boat - a row boat - to clean up the Potomac shoreline at Oronoco Park during the Alexandria Crew Boosters' waterfront cleanup.

"The Crew and other volunteers did an awesome job sprucing up the Potomac waterfront along Oronoco Bay during the Second Annual Cleanup by picking up 23 bags of trash and assorted loose objects," Maines said in a post on the Crew Boosters' Facebook page. "Their effort was part of the Ocean Conservancy's 27th Annual International Coastal Cleanup that was coordinated the last 17 years by Clean Virginia Waterways. Thanks to everyone who came out."

According to Lemke, this was the second year the Alexandria Crew Boosters have participated in the waterfront cleanup at Oronoco Park, which is adjacent to the city's premier rowing facility, the Dee Campbell Boathouse. Lemke further noted that volunteers ate lunch at the Boathouse after the cleanup, and participating students received certificates for two hours of community service.

Additional photos from the Alexandria Crew Boosters' cleanup day can be found on Facebook.