ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Whether it’s delivering meals or rescuing injured wildlife, there are dozens of nonprofit groups in the Tampa Bay area looking for volunteers.
And Do Good Day is a chance for residents to find their community.
On Saturday, March 29, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Ferg’s Sports Bar and Grill, you can find your tribe of do-gooders.
One organization that will be returning for the second annual event is Keep Pinellas Beautiful: A group that's perfect if you have a buddy that brings a trash bucket on hikes.
Members of Keep Pinellas Beautiful pick up an average of 500 pounds of trash weekly from the Gandy Beach.
Pat DePlasco, the head of the organization, thinks area residents can do better.
“What can we do better? How about not litter in the first place?” said DePlasco.
The thin strip of sand at the foot of the Gandy Bridge is just one of the areas Keep Pinellas Beautiful cleans. DePlasco said the nonprofit organization is always looking for volunteers.
“That’s our workforce,” she said, casing the beach and picking up straws, cigarettes, and a single serving bag of Cheetos.
It’s why Do Good Day is so important for her group and dozens of other Tampa Bay area nonprofits: It's a chance to meet like-minded helpers.
DePlasco has been a trash picker-upper all her life.
“Why? It’s not because I love picking up trash. It just because I love where I live,” she said, using a trash grabber to gesture to Tampa Bay.
This is DePlasco’s purpose.
To keep paradise, well, paradisey.
“The effort it takes to take a piece of trash and put it in a bag and carry it to the trash can is nothing in comparison to what we have to do to fix it,” said DePlasco.
And her ultimate goal for Keep Pinellas Beautiful?
To close — because we all start doing better.
