In honor of Earth Day, Friends of Wesley Lake is putting out a call for volunteers to help with their second annual lake cleanup and pub crawl.
Scheduled for 9 a.m. to noon Saturday [with a Sunday rain date], the cleanup asks most volunteers to work from the banks skimming and pulling debris for raking and clearing, Facebook page founder Daniele Boglivi Fiori said.
Fiori and husband Keith created the site after “we watched the beautiful lake we were so happy to buy a house in front of transform into what looked like a swamp,” she said.
Since then the couple, who live on the Ocean Grove side, have helped bring garbage and recycle cans along the perimeter.
This year, two local eateries are lending their support.
Johnny Mac House of Spirits is supplying canoes and The Asbury Festhalle & Biergarten will supply cleaning supplies and fishing nets, Fiori said.
Volunteers will meet at the western footbridge on the Asbury Park side of the lake, at the corner of Lake Avenue and Emory Street.
Fiori asks that anyone who can bring gloves, nets and/ or skimmers, gardening tools and any other tools that may apply.
Volunteers will be treated to free beer & pizza at Johnny Mac’s and a free bier & bretzels at the Festhalle after the event, Fiori said.
Last year’s cleanup saw 40 volunteers fill 60 trash bags with garbage removed from the lake, she said.
This year’s efforts will focus on the removal of as much floating garbage as possible but enough people attend the cleanup will spread to the grass areas around the lake.
The event will be capped by Monday’s planting of six trees around the lake by Lisa Simms of NJ Trees, Fiori said.
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