Mission Beach Town Council’s fourth annual Community Toys for Tots drive coupled with a beach cleanup will be Saturday, Dec. 9 from 8 a.m. to noon.
Hosted by the nonprofit Don’t Trash Mission Beach, volunteers for the beach cleanup will gather under the tents on the green grass near the restrooms on the parking lot side of Belmont Park. Buckets, grabbers, and gloves will be provided.
Volunteers will be treated to snacks from Olive Bakery to enjoy before, during, and after the cleanup. Each beach cleanup participant will also receive one free roller coaster ride ticket from Belmont Park.
Though optional, beach cleanup participants are encouraged to donate a new and unwrapped toy for MBTC’s Toys for Tots drive before helping to clean the beach community. Co-sponsor Plunge San Diego at 3115 Ocean Front Walk is also accepting donations of new and unwrapped toys.
MBTC president Larry Webb talked about the origin of the fourth annual dual event. “I have been involved with Toys for Tots for many years,” he said. “We thought it would be a good idea to combine Toys for Tots with the beach cleanup. So we talked with Don’t Trash Mission Beach about coordinating and combining the events – and we’ve been doing it ever since.”
New this year, said Webb, is that beach cleanup participants donating toys will be rewarded by receiving a free one-day swim pass to the Plunge in Belmont Park. “The Plunge will continue to accept toys until Dec. 20,” noted Webb adding “Everything donated goes to a needy family or child.”
Don’t Trash Mission Beach founder Cathy Ives started the nonprofit, along with fellow MB residents Tim and Tony San Felice, to bring awareness and education about the hazards of beach rubbish. The organization also fosters a sense of community pride, advocating for personal responsibility and education through beach cleanup events and art installations.
Ives for years has been picking up trash daily between the MB jetty and Belmont Park, she said it is an ongoing task that never ebbs. “My total for the year is 10 tons for just the one-mile stretch of beach,” Ives said adding a Don’t Trash pickup last year with about 100 volunteers cleared a ton of garbage.
The volume of beach trash is constant, noted Ives, adding the content of what gets left alters with whatever the latest fad is in beach toys and fashion. “Right now I’m picking up more vape, disposable kites, and Smash Ball stuff,” she said adding, “I track everything.”
Boogie boards, diapers, and especially dog waste top the list of items that continue to be left on the beach. “We’ve seen a major increase in dog souvenirs,” Ives said adding, “I see it every day.”
Drinking on the beach with lots of broken glass has also resurfaced as another major problem to contend with. “Sixty percent of people drink from glass bottles because they think it tastes better,” Ives noted adding she not infrequently finds discarded trash items as close as 10 feet away from a trash receptacle.
The MBTC Toys for Tots December drive typically draws about 100 volunteers for the beach cleanup. “A lot of parents bring their kids,” Ives said adding of the cleanup experience, “It’s a good way to be outdoors and interact in a good way with others picking up things like Styrofoam and bottle caps, which are dangerous to marine life, which makes for a cleaner neighborhood. It’s good exercise and a way to feel good.”
