TAMPA, Fla. — Every second Sunday in Tampa Bay, Pure Initiative, a Tampa Bay nonprofit, brings dozens of volunteers together to pick up trash along area beaches.
Sunday morning, over 200 pounds of trash were picked up along Picnic Island Beach.
"The whole mindset of, well, that's not my job. I don't do that. We want to get away from that, right? We want people to every day. If we all do our part, it becomes a pretty easy problem to solve," says RJ Vida, the founder of Pure Initiative.
Vida founded his nonprofit in 2020 and now organizes monthly beach cleanups. The organization is aiming to fill gaps left by other environmental groups that typically host annual events.
"There's some amazing organizations in Tampa that do cleanups on a yearly basis, but no one's really filling in the gaps. So, I figured it was our time to do it," says Vida
Among Sunday's volunteers was 16-year-old George Dovin IV, a Jesuit High School student and president of his school's Environmental Club. Despite traveling the night before and getting home late, Dovin and his family made the cleanup a priority.
"I always believe in the motto, leave it better than you found it. So, I'm trying to leave the world better than I found it," Dovin said.
His father, George Dovin III, and his mother were both out with him.
"It's been his thing. We never push him. He just does his own thing. So yeah, it's, you know, we're proud of him," the elder Dovin said.
For more information on Pure Initiative, head to their website.
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