Newsletter: Jan 23, 2022

Trashy Mermaids: Cleaning Up Our Beaches - Together!

 It takes spirit, a sense of humor and a love of the sand and sea.  Mix them together and the solution becomes Trashy Mermaids, an informal, family friendly group brought together to help keep our beaches trash free by the group's founder, Julie Travis.

A 30-year resident of Delray and beach lover, Travis just couldn't stand seeing the litter that ever-growing crowds coming here for surf and sun left behind for someone else to pick up.  With the mythical muse of a mermaid prodding her on, she decided to do something about it and Trashy Mermaids was born, along with their already iconic T-Shirts that can be purchased to help cover the cost of buckets and trash grabbers to make the job easier when volunteers can't BYOB - bring your own bucket.

“We have a lot of fun,” Travis told reporter Scott Luxor of the Sun Sentinel, describing the group's inaugural trash pickup gathering of Mermaids, Mermen and Merkids late last spring. “The most fun is meeting new like-minded people and people who love the beach. Everybody stayed there at least for a couple of hours and they all got to know some new people. Two people who I met on the beach are now already committed to coming to the next beach cleanup in June.”

Less than a year later, the group has over 300 members logging onto their Facebook group, Trashy Mermaids Delray Beach, to post news about partnerships they've formed with local merchants and the Solid Waste Department of Palm Beach County and photos of the fun they've had.

Join them February 5 at Life Guard S Stand S3 across from the Sandoway parking lot on A1A just south of Atlantic Boulevard.  Bring your entire family - Mermaids, Mermen and Merkids.  You're sure to have fun, spiced with the feel good of doing something positive to clean up the litter that's left behind at our great beaches.

Beachkeepers, Inc., a non-profit headquartered in Delray and "dedicated to protecting South Florida's beaches", also holds bi-monthly cleanups of our beaches, waterways, parks and streets.  Sign up with them to see when cleanup events are happening in Delray at:  

https://beachkeepersinc.org/