The second island-wide "Green Up Anguilla" campaign is scheduled to take place on May 21-23, 2010. A number of organizations have already signed up to take part and will be getting together to clean up all the main and side paved roads in readiness for Anguilla Day and the celebration of this national holiday. Already on board is The Optimist Club of Anguilla, Rotary Club of Anguilla, Interact & Rotaract Clubs, Primary Schools, Albena Lake-Hodge Comprehensive School, Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Cap Juluca, Anguilla Beautification Club, Lions & Lionesses Clubs, Anguilla Hotel & Tourism Association, Department of Disaster Management, Viceroy, Cuisinart, Environmental Health Unit, Greig’s Trucking, Methodist churches, Adventist churches, Anglican churches, Church of Christ, Central Baptist church, Disaster Department, Anguilla National Trust and Anguilla Renewable Energy Office.

It takes only a few hours to make a huge impact. Let’s all work together to make the island of Anguilla beautiful and clean for the holiday. This year we are taking an environmental approach and working with Beth Barry of the Anguilla Renewable Energy Office who will be providing biodegradable garbage bags. Gilda Gumbs-Samuel, Executive Director of the AHTA, in collaboration with Springer, has developed a 'clean up' jingle for the AHTA. A number of school children will rehearse and record the jingle to be played on all the local radio stations leading up to the event as a reminder of this wonderful programme.

We are still looking for donations of bottled water. Greig Hughes and Elmoalis will be providing dumpsters for waste collection and will be responsible for roadside garbage pick up. Locations will be notified to all participants along with clean up locations for each group and community.

The Honorable Edison Baird has been working with the school system to make this an educational exercise so the children can participate in and around their schools. It is hoped that this exercise will become an annual event with all people from Anguilla working towards keeping the island clean and beautiful. We aim to educate children and the communities on the importance of a clean environment. To follow up, we plan to clean up the salt ponds in the summer.

If you would like to join us, or organize a group to assist us in this campaign, please call Gilda Gumbs-Samuel at the Anguilla Hotel and Tourism Association, at 497-2944 or Gary Thulander at Cap Juluca at 497-6666 for more information.