Culver City volunteers spearhead involvement in California Coastal Cleanup Day

Volunteers took time to pick up trash at several locations throughout the city of Culver City as part of the 41st annual California Coastal Cleanup Day on Saturday, Sept. 20. Originally started in 1985, this annual event helps organize volunteer cleanups at locations across California, having enabled more than 1.7 million volunteers to clean waterways and parks across the state.

Six Coastal Cleanup Day sites were located in Culver City. Three of the cleanups were held at entrances along the Ballona Creek Bike Path, while the others took place at Blair Hills Park, Syd Kronenthal Park, and the Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook.

Each of these locations were chaperoned by local organizations or residents working to improve their communities. Several of the institutions running these sites are long-time participants, having led Coastal Cleanup Day Sites for many years.

Run by the nonprofit Heal the Bay, a California Coastal Cleanup Day is held each September to help maintain environmental health by collecting trash and beautifying public sites across California. Over 3,100 miles of land across the state were cleaned during the 2024 event.

The ages of the volunteers were diverse, as many parents brought their children to help clean up Culver City's public resources. Among them was Stella Wolfe, a senior at Culver City High School and the president of the Ballona Creek Renaissance Club at the school.

She said that she has been dedicating her time to environmental causes since the fifth grade, driven by the impact it has on animals.

"I like to come out here and make all my friends come with me and pick up trash," Wolfe told Culver Crescent. "It's a fun pastime, and it makes you feel like you're doing something good for the community."

Wolfe participated in cleanup efforts around the Overland Avenue entrance of the Ballona Creek Bike Path, run by the larger Ballona Creek Renaissance organization. To add to their efforts on Saturday, members of Ballona Creek Renaissance also called on volunteers to support a potential ban on plastic grocery bags, cigarettes, balloons, 20-oz. and under plastic beverage bottles, and artificial turf, which the Culver City City Council will consider on Oct. 13.

"These cleanups highlight the fact that the flow of plastic pollution has only increased over time," Ballona Creek Renaissance Directrice (Director) Deborah Gregory wrote in an email to Culver Crescent. "Our highest priority [is] the health of the [Ballona Wetlands] and its’ inhabitants."

For the Sierra Club, whose West Los Angeles branch hosted the site at the Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook, leading a trash cleanup naturally lends to their overall mission of environmental preservation. Branch Chair David Haake told Culver Crescent there is a "quirky zen of uncovering strange and mysterious bits of litter left behind."

"It's our way of showing love for both our community and for Mother Earth," Haake said of leading the cleanup.

Other organizations whose missions are not directly tied to the environment also recognize the value in maintaining a clean city. The Syd Kronenthal Park site was chaperoned by Echo Horizon School, a private elementary school in Culver City.

"Echo Horizon School is proud to partner with Culver City and Heal the Bay for the annual Coastal Cleanup," Assistant Head of School and Director of Early Education and Lower Elementary Jennie Willens said in an email.

"As site hosts at Syd Kronenthal Park, our students, families, faculty, and staff come together each year to live our values of Ethical Action, Community Well-Being, and Wise Effort while helping keep our park and oceans clean."

Echo Horizon staff oversaw 40 volunteers who cleaned up around 221 pounds of trash, making it one of the more extensive cleanups held in Culver City on Saturday. Others saw a healthy stock of volunteers, including more than 20 picking up litter around the Sepulveda Boulevard entrance of the Ballona Creek Bike Path.

The site was run by the Los Angeles branch of the Kiwanis Club, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the betterment of the community with a particular focus on children. Similar to the Ballona Creek Renaissance, the Kiwanis Club has also run a cleanup site for many years as a way to continue improving people's lives.

"Our commitment is to serve our community in any way it needs to be served, particularly with a focus on kids," L.A. Kiwanis Club president Camille Goulet told Culver Crescent.

"Environmental cleanup is all about the future for the children, without a doubt."

EDITOR'S NOTE: A quote from Echo Horizon Assistant Head of School and Director of Early Education and Lower Elementary Jennie Willens was misattributed in a previous version of this article.