Santa MoniCARES Donates $5,000 for Earth Day
Santa MoniCARES Donates $5,000 to Heal the Bay During ‘Earth Day’ Beach Clean Up
Santa Monica Mayor Sue Himmelrich and Santa MoniCARES Foundation representative Ellis O’Connor present the $5,000 check to Heal the Bay Aquarium Director Marslaidh Ryan
SANTA MONICA, Calif., (April 23, 2021) – Santa Monica Travel & Tourism’s nonprofit foundation Santa MoniCARES presented Heal the Bay with a $5,000 check during a partner based “Earth Day” Beach Clean Up at the seaside aquarium under the Santa Monica Pier on Thursday, April 22, 2021.
Joining in the Earth Day celebration and $5,000 check presentation was Sue Himmelrich, Mayor, City of Santa Monica; Marslaidh Ryan, Director, Heal the Bay Aquarium; and Ellis O’Connor, Santa MoniCARES board member.
“Heal the Bay is a tremendous asset to our community and we are pleased to present them with a check to support their mission,” said Ellis O’Connor. “From marine science education for guests to protecting the local animals in the Santa Monica Bay, Heal the Bay further promotes academics, sustainability and wildlife habitats.”
Partnering with Heal the Bay, Santa Monica Travel & Tourism (SMTT) and Santa MoniCARES managed the “Earth Day” Beach Clean Up efforts at the Santa Monica Pier and surrounding beaches and parking lots featuring micro-cleanups with approximately 200 participants that pre-registered online and were organized into small groups of 20 people each in order to comply with current LA County Department of Public Health guidelines. Local resident families, City of Santa Monica leaders and small groups of employees from Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel, Shore Hotel, Bird Scooter and Fairmont Hotel & Bungalows joined to pick up trash on the beach both North and South of Santa Monica Pier. Preceding the clean up, participants were provided instructions on following COVID-19 guidelines and watched an instructional video from Heal the Bay on how to safely clean up trash.
“We greatly appreciate the support from Santa MoniCARES and the City of Santa Monica,” said Marslaidh Ryan. “We will use the $5,000 donation to help further our mission of science, education, community action, and advocacy. It is especially important to recognize these initiatives on Earth Day as well as everyday throughout the year.”
Santa MoniCARES has also joined the “Santa Monica Shines Clean Campaign” with a comprehensive community clean up drive now through August 31. Residents can pick up a free cleanup kit at any of the six convenient Santa Monica locations, with more coming soon, to pick-up trash around their neighborhood. After the clean up is done, residents can dispose of their items collected into the appropriate receptacle, wash their hands thoroughly with soap and water, and sanitize all gear used including personal objects, such as a mobile phone.
Now through Tuesday, June 1, residents can take a picture of themselves or their group while they’re out cleaning and post it on their social media channels along with using #WeAreSantaMonica and #SantaMoniCARES for a chance to win a $100 gift card to a Santa Monica business. For more information on the Santa Monica Shines “Clean Campaign” social media promotion, please visit SantaMoniCARES.com.
Santa Monica Shines is the community-partnered outreach effort for Santa Monica’s economic recovery that provides resources to businesses, employees, and residents throughout the city at santamonicashines.com and santamonica.gov/economicrecovery. Santa Monica remains committed to the health and wellness of the community and is taking extra precautions to ensure the community feels welcome and safe. When visiting Santa Monica, please remember to wear a face mask, practice social distancing, and follow all LA County health and safety requirements.
“We are grateful for the work that Heal the Bay does for our coastline restoring our waterways and speaking up for clean water policy. It is critical to our quality of life and a natural partnership to keep our bay healthy. We all care for this community and together with our Santa MoniCARES foundation we felt Earth Day was the perfect opportunity to make a $5,000 donation in support of their mission and encourage others to get involved,” said Misti Kerns, President/CEO of Santa Monica Travel & Tourism. “The focus of Santa MoniCARES is to unite our local tourism industry to support and offer our services to other Santa Monica based non-profit organizations like Heal The Bay.”
About Santa Monica Shines
Santa Monica Shines is a communications and outreach effort focused on accelerating a safe and healthy economic recovery and return to business. The partnership of residents and community stakeholders includes City of Santa Monica, Downtown Santa Monica, Inc., Main Street Business Improvement District, Montana Avenue Merchants Association, Pico Improvement District, Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce, Santa Monica Pier Corporation, Santa Monica Place, Santa Monica Travel & Tourism, and 18th Street Arts Center. For more information visit santamonica.com/shines.
About Heal the Bay
Heal the Bay is an environmental nonprofit dedicated to making the coastal waters and watersheds in Greater Los Angeles safe, healthy, and clean. We use science, education, community action, and advocacy to fulfill our mission. For more information, visit healthebay.org.
About Santa MoniCARES
Santa MoniCARES is a coalition of representatives from Santa Monica Travel & Tourism and community partners. The mission of Santa MoniCARES is to harness the hospitable nature and generosity of Santa Monica’s tourism industry to provide support to our local nonprofit agencies. Santa MoniCARES will engage employees of hotels, restaurants, attractions, retailers and more to provide volunteer hours, funding and in-kind support to the incredible organizations that are tackling homeless issues, environmental protection, hunger, workforce development, cultural programming, at-risk youth and elderly assistance, among others.
About Santa Monica Travel & Tourism
Santa Monica Travel & Tourism (SMTT) is a non-profit organization designed to increase visitor expenditures, tourism revenues and local employment opportunities through the promotion of Santa Monica as a travel destination. For more information visit santamonica.com, email info@santamonica.com, or follow SMTT on Instagram (@SeeSantaMonica), Twitter (@GoSantaMonica) or Facebook (@VisitSantaMonica).
