March 2020 - I Love A Clean San Diego

Postponed Events Through April
I Love A Clean San Diego sets new date for Creek to Bay Cleanup and postpones all April events and workshops. KIDS OCEAN DAY is postponed in May until the fall.

Dear I Love A Clean San Diego Family,

As we all adjust to evolving information and our new daily lifestyle with COVID-19, I hope this message finds you and your family well. I want to thank our volunteers and supporters for your patience and continued support during this time.

Creek to Bay and other events in April
As of today, we are postponing all cleanup events and educational activities for the month of April until further notice. This also affects one of our largest cleanups of the year, the Creek to Bay Cleanup. The new date for the countywide Creek to Bay Cleanup is Saturday June 20, 2020 from 9 a.m.-12 p.m.

Marking the first day of summer, we are confident this later date will give all those involved a greater sense of safety in hopes we have returned to a more normal daily routine. Our goal remains to host over 100 sites in communities throughout the county with more than 5,000 volunteers. A list of confirmed cleanup sites and volunteer registration will be released in May.

We of course will follow the guidance and recommendations of public health leadership to adjust for safe event operations.

KIDS OCEAN DAY San Diego
At this time, the only event we know will be postponed in May is KIDS OCEAN DAY. Given the uncertainty of our region’s school schedules, we will hold the event this fall once students are back in school. We are working closely with the California Coastal Commission on coordination.

Become A Sponsor of Creek to Bay and KIDS OCEAN DAY
Contact Ian Monahan
619.795.5806 or imonahan@cleansd.org

As a reminder, our entire team at I Love A Clean San Diego is now working part-time and remotely. We are still maintaining phone inquiries, emails, meetings and virtual conferencing.

In addition, the WasteFreeSD hotline remains open. Visit WasteFreeSD.org for more information.

We will be in touch again with timely updates.

Because we LOVE where we live,

Len Hering

Executive Director

I Love A Clean San Diego

I Love A Clean San Diego’s Response to Public Health Action and the Coronavirus

As many of you know, I Love A Clean San Diego has served as San Diego County’s go-to environmental nonprofit for more than 65 years. Our adult workshops, classroom education, corporate trainings and community cleanups touch nearly every corner of our beautiful region. We know the current public health environment is impacting your lives both personally and professionally, as it is for us here at I Love A Clean San Diego.

We want to assure the thousands of volunteers and our many public and private partners that we are taking every precaution to ensure the safety of the work we offer to residents throughout the region. As a retired Rear Admiral of the United States Navy, I am personally maintaining consistent contact with my colleagues at the federal, state and local levels so our organization stays in lockstep with the evolving changes necessary to contain and hopefully prevent the spread of the coronavirus in our region.

Our Action

Under the recommendation of public health leadership and to address the financial impacts of contracted work that has been postponed during the coronavirus outbreak, I Love A Clean San Diego is taking the following action:

We have postponed all events, workshops and educational activities through March, and will continue to reevaluate further postponement of activities extending into April or beyond
As of Wednesday, March 18 the majority of our staff will be working from home, with limited staff onsite to maintain daily logistics
All employees including leadership are reducing their hours to part-time beginning Monday, March 23 for possibly the next six weeks or longer to address our financial losses
All meetings will be conducted virtually
We will continue to update our event calendar at CleanSD.org and provide updates through our social media channels on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter @iloveacleansd

As a non-profit 501(c)3, we will not be eligible for the government relief currently being considered. Consequently, I Love A Clean San Diego will realize a significant fiscal impact to our organization, but we are confident we are taking the appropriate measures to safeguard the long term stability of the organization and the programs we deliver to communities throughout San Diego County. With your support, we will return stronger than ever with the programs you have come to know and love.

Be Safe

In the spirit of volunteerism and service, which you have demonstrated over the years to make a lasting impact for the communities around San Diego County, the current environment is about all of us. We need to take care of ourselves so we can help those in need through this difficult time. We will get through this together.