On June 23, 2021, after a 9-5 workday, 17 “Leadership Shumaker” volunteers from Shumaker, Loop and Kendrick joined together midweek to cleanup to Bayfront from O’Leary’s to Selby Gardens. The workers headed off into the late afternoon heat with gloves, bags, and trash pickers to scour the mangroves, seawall, and walkway.
The cleanup was off to a successful start when a queen-sized mattress was discovered at the waters edge. The sodden, muddy, encrusted, and foul-smelling item required the assistance of Shumaker’s strongest to strap and roll the item along the shoreline, up the embankment, and to the trash. The “sauce-splashed’ workers then continued with less strenuous debris removal while providing a curiosity for passersby.
Leadership Shumaker participated in a similar teambuilding cleanup two years ago. The events have been initiated and organized by Brandon Taaffe, a Shumaker lawyer and Sarasota Bay Watch board member. The Bayfront was chosen for its proximity to their office and the length of mangroves and shoreline littered with debris from the walkway, boats, and nearby 41.
The group collected a total of 754 pounds of trash and 35 pounds of recycling (that’s lot of water bottles!) within 1 ½ hour. The most notable booty consisted of the mattress, life vest, figurine, painting on canvas without frame, wallboard with tile, a boat window/hatch, hoist gear, lululemon shorts, assorted single athletic shoes, numerous plastic bags and bottles.
Sarasota Bay Watch hid three prizes among the mangroves to be discovered by the most adventurous volunteers. Leadership Shumaker is a perfect example of collective corporate initiative to prove that “A Healthy Bay is Everybody’s Business”.
