Dive team assist Cub Scout Troop

Today the Dive Team was invited to assist some of our younger citizens in their community service project.  Cub Scout Troop #6 made plans to perform a shoreline cleanup of Silver Lake and requested our assistance along the water's edge.

Scouts and some of their family members first met with Mayor Stephen Reid and Councilman Tom Vogel, who thanked everyone for helping to clean up this part of the community.  Just scanning across the lake, it was obvious that plastic debris in particular was an issue.  However, everyone brought gloves and garbage bags ready for the job.

Before we began the cleanup, Dive Team members Joe, Chris, and Sue gave the troop a short tour of our Dive Rescue truck and showed everyone some of the basic dive gear we always travel with.  (A few of the kids discovered that an air tank and weight belt weigh more than they do!)  We didn’t need to do any diving at this site today, though, but we were in exposure suits to help with the wettest part of today’s job.

The scouts broke into three teams to tackle different sections of the shoreline, with one diver accompanying each group.  While the scouts picked up all manner of garbage around the lawns and in the shore reeds, divers helped from the water side to add to the garbage bags.  Plastic debris was indeed the most common garbage – bags, bottles, straws, wrappers of all sorts.  Other items included cans, glass bottles, rusty rebar, a house shutter, diaper, silk flower wreath, skate wheel, hackeysack, and even one of the town’s traffic barrels.  And EVERYONE recovered golf balls.  It was a messy job, but someone had to do it.

By the end of the morning, teams had collected dozens of garbage bags for proper disposal.  A big ‘thank you’ goes to all the volunteers who worked so hard today on this project.  We’re looking forward to working with them again in service to the community.