Amazing Turnout on a Chilly Morning for the MLK Day of Service Cleanup Event!

 

From all of us at the West Augustine Nature Society, we would love to thank everyone who came out on Monday in the freezing cold to come out and help celebrate Martin Luther King Day of Service with us! Even with the weather, around 200 people joined us Monday morning, and over the span of 3 hours, we were able to collect about a ton of trash and several old tires with all of your help. 

Each year this event grows more with support and we cannot thank all of our volunteers enough! Without these amazing volunteers, who are dedicated to help us with our goal of making the world a cleaner place, we wouldn't be able to do what we do.

Special shoutout to Elizabeth Jennings and Kate Mitchell from ONE Sotheby's Real Estate for providing continental breakfast and warm drinks for our volunteers this chilly morning, I know we all appreciated it!

We would also love to thank our partners for supporting us and our volunteers. 

❤️ The West Augustine Improvement Association 

❤️ The St. Augustine Interact Club 

❤️ Dancing Treetops

❤️ St. Augustine Connection

❤️ Maria Jefferson Chapter of the D.A.R.

❤️ Omega Phi Omega, of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. 

❤️ Florida Water Warriors Inc.

❤️ Pie in the Sky

❤️ SAHS Girls Soccer

❤️ Once Was Lost

❤️ 808 Bounce

❤️ Snake Bird Vintage

❤️ Elizabeth Jennings Realtor

❤️ Kate Mitchell Realtor

❤️ Dashalinka Flowers

❤️  Nu Epsilon Sigma Rhoer Club ~ Chapter of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority Inc

❤️ Keep St. Johns County Beautiful

❤️ Stella Maris Spa

❤️ The Art House

❤️ The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

Be sure to check out these amazing organizations, churches, clubs, and businesses! They all played important parts in the success that we were able to have this year, thank you!

MLK Day of Service 2025

Come join us in 2025 for our 5th Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day Cleanup Event. We are partnering with the West Augustine Improvement Association, the St. Augustine Connection, St. Augustine High Interact Club, Dancing Treetops, Maria Jefferson Chapter of the D.A.R., Omega Phi Omega, of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., Keep St. Johns County Beautiful, and Nu Epsilon Sigma Rhoer Club ~ Chapter of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority Inc for this special day in our community. 

The event is on January 20th, from 8 to 11 AM. Please meet us at 252 N McLaughlin St, St. Augustine Florida, there will be a continental breakfast provided by Elizabeth Jennings and Kate Mitchell from One Sotheby's Reality of Northeast Florida.

Please contact us if you are a club, business, church, or organization interested in teaming up with us for this clean-up event through the information provided in our flyer above.

MLK Day of Service 2025!

 

Stay tuned! Here's the preliminary flyer for the 2025 MLK Day of Service Cleanup Event. Please share the word and mark your calendars for this event, email us with the email shown in the flyer if you are interested in partnering with us for this event, we'll need all the help and support!

2024, Earth Day, Every Day Clean Up Event - Help Keep our Community Clean

 

We are excited to once again team up with the West Augustine Improvement Association for our 2024 Earth Day Every Day Cleanup Event in St. Augustine.

Come join us as we clean up the trash pollution in our community, before it ends up in our local wetlands and waterways.

• Sunday, April 21st, 2024
• 1-3 P.M.
• Parking will be at 591 N Orange St, St. Augustine
• We will start out at the wood chip pile on 971 Bruen Street
• Service hours will be provided

BRING: Gloves and/or grabber, trash bags, & your own water bottle.

Dancing Treetops is giving a free plant to all of the volunteers, and Southern Horticulture is giving away an amazing gift basket to the raffle.

Support our partners by following them on social media.

• West Augustine Improvement Association Facebook, West Augustine Improvement Association Instagram
• Southern Horticulture Facebook, Southern Horticulture Instagram
• Dancing Treetops Facebook, Dancing Treetops Instagram

We are looking for donations for the free raffle

Overwhelming Support from 200 Volunteers at the MLK Day Cleanup Event in St. Augustine

On behalf of the West Augustine Nature Society, we want to thank everyone who came out to our 4th annual MLK day cleanup event held on January 15, 2024.

Without the amazing volunteers this event would not be possible.

4th Annual MLK Day Cleanup Event in St.Augustine - Come be a Part of Our Community

Save the date! 

Come join us for our 4th annual MLK Day of Service Cleanup event.

● Monday, January 15th, 2024 

● 8-10 A.M. 

● Meet us at 252 N Mc Laughlin St, St. Augustine 

 BRING: Gloves and/or grabber, trash bags, warm clothing & your own water bottle.  

If doing the cemetery clean up, please bring gardening tools, such as rakes, pruners etc.  After the clean up, we invite anyone interested to come join us at the Silent March downtown (Starts at 86 MLK Ave at 10:30 A.M.) to honor and remember Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement in St Augustine. 

We are grateful for the support of our community partners: 

❤ The West Augustine Improvement Association

❤ The St. Augustine Connection

❤ Elizabeth Jennings Real Estate Agent, One Sotheby's International Realty

❤ Kate Mitchell Realtor, One Sotheby's International Realty

❤ Ben & Jerry's St. Augustine 

❤ Dancing Treetops

❤ EarthGuyRye 

❤ Compassionate St Augustine & Good Trouble 

❤ Nu Epsilon Sigma Chapter of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc. 

❤ The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints 

❤ Omega Phi Omega of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority  

❤ Primerica Financial Services 

❤ Interact St. Augustine High School

❤ Pie in The Sky

❤ The Rotary Club of St. Augustine Sunrise

❤ Sigma Pi Lambda Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc.

❤ Beachside High National Honor Society 

❤ St. Joseph Academy Interact Club

We will be cleaning up the streets around the Pinehurst, San Sebastian and Woodlawn cemeteries, and we will be cleaning up inside of the Pinehurst and San Sebastian Cemeteries, two of the oldest African American cemeteries in Florida. 

Treats for our volunteers: 

• Breakfast is provided by Elizabeth Jennings and Kate Michell from One Sotheby's Realty  
• Ben & Jerry's got ice cream for our volunteers  
• Dancing Treetops and EarthGuyRye are giving away free plants.  
• There will be raffle prizes from the community partners.  

High school students please ask us for volunteer forms. 

If you'd like to get involved in this or future events or donate food, supplies etc. to the events, contact us or the West Augustine Nature Society via messenger or email.

Please share this flyer. It may change as we add more community partners, but we will always have the most updated flyer on the website.

Pinehurst and San Sebastian Cemeteries 5th Restoration Day, October 14, 2023

We want to thank everyone who came out to the Pinehurst and San Sebastian Cemeteries 5th Restoration Day, on Saturday, October 14, 2023, especially our partners The West Augustine Improvement Association, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and The Daughters of the American Revolution as your help made it possible for the restoration of such historic cemeteries, ensuring for the proper upkeep for many years to come, and helping to identify graves which were unmarked and forgotten.

At the beginning of the day we started our cleanup around the streets of the cemetery, and then we joined the rest of the volunteers inside of the cemetery.

More than 75 volunteers came out to help at the street/cemetery cleanup event, and after the event we all had a BBQ lunch together curtsy of the WAIA and the Cooper family.

  Save the date, MLK day community and cemetery cleanup, January 15, 2024, at 8:00 a.m. 
Location: The big lot on N Mclaughlin St. across from 265 N Mclaughlin St.

Do you get upset when you see our trees being clear cut, removed, and burned?

 Does clearcutting St. Johns County's wooded areas make you mad? 

 St. Johns County has had a 40% decrease in tree cover since 2000 according to Global Forest Watch. 

 You can make a difference! Help save St. Johns County's trees. What can you do? 

 🌳 Share the flyer and follow Fish Island Community Alliance 

 🌳 Save and share the video (See our feed) 

 🌳 Visit www.fishisland33.com to see how you can help. 

 🌳 Show up to the Oct 17th, 9 a.m. SJC Commissioner Meeting - wear green or black. 

 🌳 Tell friends and family to join the Save St. Johns Trees movement 

 🌳 Write an email or a letter to your local commissioner. So important! 

 ● Tell them why we need trees in St. Johns County. 

● Tell them how it makes you feel when you see another area of woodland being clearcut. 

● Tell them why you want St. Johns County to be a tree county.
● Encourage our County Commissioners to update the Land Development Code to:

 • Prevent currently accepted removal of all trees on small lots 

• Increase tree protection on larger lots and in coastal areas

 • Conserve trees in Planned Communities And more...see www.fishisland33.com 

 Call or email Commissioners to support updating the LDC 904-209-0300

 Christian Whitehurst bcc1cwhitehurst@sjcfl.us 

Sarah Arnold bcc2sarnold@sjcfl.us 

Roy Alaimo bcc3ralaimo@sjcfl.us 

Krista Joseph bcc4kjoseph@sjcfl.us 

Henry Dean bcc5hdean@sjcfl.us 

 🌳 Get a Save St. Johns' Trees bumper sticker If you cannot be at the county commissioners' meeting on Oct 17th, please help by sharing the video from the St. Augustine Connection and the Save the St. Johns Trees Flyer.

Written by Skyler Kai Rodney, 12th grade, St. Augustine High School, President of the West Augustine Nature Society.