Lending A Glove, To Help Keep California Beautiful

by Phil Wade, CalMAX Student Assistant

This last spring, an estimated two million volunteers from all over the United States banded together to face the daunting task of cleaning and beautifying our nation, in the second annual Great American Cleanup. The program, spearheaded by Keep America Beautiful, Inc., mobilized thousands of communities in 35 states to take part in special community improvement events. One such chapter of this organization, Keep California Beautiful (KCB), is located in Del Mar, San Diego. Receiving its charter in 1990 and residing under the directorship of Marlene Mariani, KCB has been an active participant in the clean up of California neighborhoods for the last 10 years.

KCB was just one of the many groups that participated in last spring's Great American Cleanup. Allied with nearly 20,000 volunteers of all ages from around the state, the group set out to educate and demonstrate the idea of maintaining a healthier environment for the future. Before the cleanup reached its apex in early April, KCB had the manpower, they had the desire but they lacked materials, particularly gloves. As a nonprofit, the organization was looking for a charitable donation of a large quantity, someone that could supply enough gloves to protect at least some of the hands of their volunteers. Mariani immediately went to CalMAX to place an ad. "Whenever I need anything, I always look in CalMAX first," said Mariani, who has been a CalMAX user for a year and a half.

It was not long before Mariani's cry for help was answered. Patrick Carnie of AFG Industries in Victorville had the perfect solution to her problem. AFG Industries, which is a glass manufacturing company, goes through dozens of heavy work gloves each day. Since Carnie did not have an outlet for these materials, he was simply discarding the gloves. Then he looked in CalMAX and saw Mariani's ad. Now, Carnie is shipping KCB over two hundred gloves a month, saving the organization at least $1,000 a shipment, and keeping these items out of the trash can. Since March, 350 pounds of gloves have been diverted from landfills, and KCB has saved roughly $7,000 through this ongoing exchange. "It's a great thing," says Carnie of his donations to KCB, "because I used to throw these gloves away, and now I can use them for something good. It's been a great relationship between us."

Mariani and Keep California Beautiful received the gloves in plenty of time for the Great American Cleanup, thanks to the donations from AFG Industries. The connection between these two organizations not only illustrates the principles of reuse, but by diverting hundreds of gloves from the landfills, they are taking one step closer to truly "keeping California beautiful."

If you would like more information on Keep America Beautiful, Inc. or the Great American Cleanup, you can visit www.kab.org. If you are interested in how to volunteer for or donate to Keep California Beautiful, you can contact Marlene Mariani by phone at (760) 944-0801, or by e-mail at mailto: marlenekcb@aol.com. You can also visit KCB at www.keepcaliforniabeautiful.com.

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Last updated: August 01, 2008