By Steffen Klenk
On Sunday, February 6th, a group of individuals, comprising of college students and young adults, took to the beach in Ocean City for a noble cause. Dozens of students gathered at 5th Street Beach, armed with blue buckets, collecting trash, plastic, and waste from our precious shores.
Love Blue Inc., a registered 501(c)3 non-profit, launched in July 2019 by a group of lifeguards and community surfers, each of whom shared a similar idea of oceanic conservation. CEO AJ Caruso saw the problem the first hand. “We organized beach cleanups weekly all summer. Once summer passed, we took Love Blue to our colleges where we ran cleanups.”
What once started with small cleanups on the beaches of Wildwood Crest have since evolved tremendously. According to the Love Blue website, the program now has four active chapters, with active beach cleanups organized by Stockton University, Rowan University, Coastal Carolina University and their headquarters in Wildwood Crest. Evolving chapters are based out of Drexel University, Monmouth University, and University of Tampa, just to name a few.
Love Blue is also heavily involved in community outreach projects. Education programs, community event involvement and partnerships with local conservation organizations aim to inform and educate the public through sustainable practices. They have also worked diligently with the Borough of Wildwood Crest to continue to build on their programs. According to the Love Blue website, the organization hops to expand their relations to other municipalities.
Through their beach cleanups and community outreach, the group has been able to fulfill their mission of restoring and progressing our oceans and practice ocean conservation. Their youth-led non-profit has been growing rapidly, according to Stockton student Gianna Schiattarella. “We are so thankful for the support we are already seeing in the beach-town communities we regularly visit.”
And that support has been shown by members of the Ocean City community. On their recent cleanup at 5th Street, members of Love Blue were able to remove 107 lbs. of trash from the beach. Their impressive efforts continue to be recognized all throughout our region. Even in the growing chapters throughout New Jersey, South Carolina and Florida, Caruso vision of creating a sustainable future remains strong. “It’s a very powerful, inspiring, empowering movement, and it’s something we can all come together for.”
You can learn more about Love Blue Inc. and their extraordinary efforts by visiting their website, lovebluecleanups.com, or follow them on Instagram @loveblueinc.
