VoluntEARing

As with all things Disney, everything is themed and everything is cheesy.  Really, really cheesy.  I"m just warning you a little about this upcoming post.

So my roommate and I decided to do the Coastal Cleanup activity today.  We signed up a while ago, but today was that wonderful day!  I guess I should explain a little about it before moving on.

Disney is really big into the whole "service" thing.  There are tons of opportunities they give cast members to serve in their communities and such.  I've never done any of them because you have to register beforehand and there's always a lot of people who want to go.  And by the time I know my schedule, it's too late to register or something else comes up and I can't go.  But I heard about this coastal cleanup thing and I just had to do it so I gave away my shift for today to a friend so I could go.

But moving on.  We arrived at the meeting place in Celebration at 7am.  They said they wouldn't be providing hardly anything, but just minutes after pulling into the parking lot we were stacked high with presents!

First, they gave us a small container of wet wipes.  I guess to use after picking up trash.  Then the tube that looks like big bite healer stuff is both bug bite stuff and sunscreen in one!  Then they gave us water bottles that poofed out when filled with water.  And, my favorite, I got my very own Disney VoluntEARs t-shirt!  I was soooo excited!  The presents alone made the whole thing worth it (and, of course, the satisfaction of knowing I served the world, gave back to the planet, helped out Mother Nature... you know... that stuff too of course!) They also fed us breakfast and lunch.  We had fresh fruit and Kashi Granola bars for breakfast/snack.

Then we headed out to Brevard County to clean up some ocean!  Tons of people came and there were people with giant video cameras everywhere!  As we got on the bus our "bus captain" explained the rules and what we were going to do.  Get into small groups, we had to write down every piece of trash we picked up so they could keep track of what sort of trash is most common (seriously, Disney researches everything), etc. etc.  At the end, our captain asked us, "So, are there any questions?"  Dead silence.  "Any questions at all?"  Suddenly a little girl in front raised her hand.  "I have a question!  Umm... what... which Disney character's favorite color is purple?"

Best.  Question.  Ever.  We were riding the purple bus, which I think it where the question came from.  For the record, we ultimately decided on Daisy, but I think Rapunzel is up there, too.

 

 It was still pretty chilly, which is why we wore our jackets.  Our group (just our bus) cleaned up 1.5 miles of the ocean's coast.  Just standing back looking at it, there didn't seem to be much in the way of trash.  But by the end, our trash bag was surprisingly heavy.  As were the trash bags of all those around us.  I was amazed at how much trash we found.  Mostly, it was just little chunks of plastic (sometimes it was hard to tell the difference between the chunks of plastic and the seashells... but when you can clearly read on it "Made in China" I tend to be convinced that it is indeed plastic) and bottle caps.  We also found candy wrappers, string, rope, a fishing line (it took forever to pull the kelp out of the fishing line), a hanger, and bazillions of cigarettes.  Nasty!  Cigarette butts actually had it's own section on the sheet we filled out.

 

Yeah.  This is me filling out the sheet.  I don't know why I'm giving the camera stinkeye.  Actually.  I do.  The sun was shining right into my eyes... and I had no idea Pamilla was taking a picture.  Anyway.  Pamilla loves this picture of me and even put it up on Facebook, so I figured I'd better explain it.

 The beach was beautiful.  And surprisingly deserted.  Especially for a Saturday.  We found tons of trash and overall had a fantastic time, I'd say.  I loved seeing all the Disney people with their families coming out to have fun.  Kids as young as five were allowed. 

Afterwards we went to the park and had a picnic.  Sandwiches, chips and cookies.  Then we came back home and finished watching the movie Aladdin that we had started on the way there.

It's been a great day!  But I've been waking up at 5am almost every morning lately, and the latest I've slept in is about 6:30, so I'm going to bed.  I know it's early.  I know I'm lame.  But I'm stinking tired!

Way to go Disney!  Way to provide tons of opportunities to serve!  I absolutely LOVED it, and totally plan on VoluntEARing again!