The Dunkirk Fredonia Lions Club recently hosted a “Fall Beach Sweep” at Point Gratiot Beach. This job of cleaning the beach is part of the Alliance for the Great Lakes’ initiative to clean the lakes and protect the waters of the lakes.

The weather was sunny and pleasant, and the Lions Club appreciated the 17 volunteers who showed up to help and felt that this cleaning was worth giving up a few hours on a beautiful Saturday morning to make our community better.

Collectively, the group pulled 30 pounds of garbage from the beach area. The kinds of trash collected were tallied into over 50 categories and then reported back to The Alliance for the Great Lakes. Micro-plastic pieces under 2.3 cm were the largest tallied category.

Some trash was clearly washing in from the lake, but it was obvious that quite a bit was from beach and park goers simply dropping trash instead of finding a trash can. This included nearly 300 cigarette butts and 150 plastic bottle caps. The volunteers hope that the public will take greater care to pick up after themselves and keep our community clean.

The Lions Club is grateful for the community willingness to help with the beach cleaning twice a year. And, as always, the Club is looking for new members who desire to make the local community a better place. The Dunkirk Fredonia Lions Club can be found on Facebook, or by calling 716-672-8509 for more information.