OCEAN CITY – The Ocean City Surf Club received a citation from Gov. Larry Hogan this month for the organization’s Adopt Your Beach program.
In a meeting of the Coastal Resources Legislative Committee, or Green Team, Wednesday, Delegate Mary Beth Carozza presented representatives of the Ocean City Surf Club with a governor’s citation for establishing and maintaining the Adopt Your Beach program, a grassroots effort in which volunteers adopt a portion of the beach and go out four times a year to clean the area and pick up trash.
The citation comes nearly a month after the Mayor and Council designated April 2018 as Adopt Your Beach month in Ocean City. Carozza commended the program and its partners for their work in helping to keep Ocean City’s beaches clean.
“We want to make sure you all understand that what we are recognizing is a true public-private partnership,” Carozza said. “This is a grassroots effort. People are really out there doing the work.”
Since the Ocean City Surf Club initiated the program in 2016, most of Ocean City’s beaches have been adopted. To date, officials say only seven areas of the beach remain unclaimed by volunteers.
As part of her commitment to the Adopt Your Beach program, Carozza vowed to adopt an area of beach near her neighborhood.
“I was excited to learn my neighborhood was not taken yet, so I am going to go ahead and make a commitment today to the Ocean City Surf Club to take 23rd Street,” she said.
The citation, read by Carozza, congratulated the citizens, businesses, civic organization, church groups, schools and other volunteers for their dedication to the Adopt Your Beach program.
“It really is an honor when you are asked to present Gov. Hogan’s citation to the Ocean City Surf Club for the Adopt Your Beach program,” Carozza said. “It is just very humbling.”
