Billy Sandifer Big Shell Beach Cleanup March 14th 2009 Results

Those who visit and fish the area South of the 15 mile area of PINS beach regularly for any length of time soon realize there is really nothing easy about it. It’s harsh and hostile and totally unforgiving and it always has been. Guess that’s why I have loved it so for so long. Hard and hostile places breed strong, self reliant, colorful people and these are the people who have been my chosen family all these years. Simply planning and executing a successful day’s fishing can become quite a task. Then if tides, winds and weather aren’t just perfect (and they rarely are) it becomes more and more complex and difficult

Now imagine 502 people showing up before daylight on their day off with many traveling hundreds of miles to be there in 45 degree temperatures with drizzle and 24 mph North winds and picking up 800,000 pounds of debris (most deposited by Hurricane Ike) and you have the story of the 14th. Annual Big Shell Beach Cleanup. From toddlers to school children to red necks to house wives to PhDs. Bikers to Environmentalists to Cowboys. All equal; working side by side and doing their absolute best to get as much debris as possible collected and removed from the National treasure that is PINS and which means so much to so many.

Their reward for this day of pain and strain in miserable weather was an event T shirt, some sunscreen and "Fishbites" and a map and a pair of gloves. Most got hotdogs and pizza. Kinda’ slim wages but the real pay off was 9 3/4 miles of clean beach in the Big Shell and a couple of miles cleaned by this year’s Port Mansfield group of 25 volunteers who came across by boat and were met by 4 wheel drive trucks which had driven in from the North end. This portion of the event is a first and was organized by Miller and Kathy Bassler of Bassler Energy Services of Deansville, Tx.

Another first in this year’s event was that NPS (National Park Service) personnel at PINS were full partners in the event and not only worked with us but furnished invaluable heavy equipment and trucks. To the NPS personnel it was just another day in the trenches as they’ve been battling the debris since Ike and their effort continues now. For days prior to the event the "backdrug" roads through Big Shell with large front end loaders so volunteers could get in and out of the area. It remained extremely difficult to pull trailers south of the 20 mile but without their efforts it would have been impossible. I’ll stand tall and tell anyone that NPS personnel led by Facilities Manager, Larry Turk, have done more work on PINS in the past year than has ever been done there before

The bone chilling, wet and cold conditions made hard work miserable for everyone but our volunteer truck drivers pulling trailers really had a tough time in the soft sands South of the 20 mile. Even the most experienced got stuck at least once or twice and had to be pulled out. I don’t think I’ve ever given these trailer pullers the full credit they earn and deserve. They risk and endanger their personal property more than the rest of us and that extra effort needs to be realized and acknowledged. So a great big and well earned special thanks go out to these hard working folks. Most of the volunteers were back at Malaquite by the official ending time of 2 p.m. but quite aa few worked beyond that and 8 of us joined NPS personnel on Sunday and continued the effort till we simply could go no more.

Prior to this event the first 13 events picked up 1,030,000 pounds of trash. The 800,000 pounds collected during this event brings the event total to 1,830,000 pounds. This record event collected as much trash as 10 previous ones had but I think it very important not to "steal the thunder" of earlier events as there are 2 big reasons for this years tremendous amount of trash gathered. First off there was that much more trash to pick up and secondly the NPS joining in helped dramatically Everyone who has worked in any of these previous 13 events has worked their backsides off just as much as this year.

We are grateful to all of our sponsors and I’d like to recognize them individually. CCA Corpus Christi Chapter provided hot dogs and refreshments for volunteers at Malaquite. Daniel Dain and Domino’s Pizza provided pizza for tired volunteers. Coastal Bend Audubon Society furnished the restrooms at the 15 mile. Fishbites, Smart Shield Sunscreen and Texmaps furnished product for volunteers. HEB Plus of Flour Bluff donated a gift certificate for sundry items. Michael Laskowski Sr. And Jr. Of Trac-Work, Inc Railroad Maintenance and Rehabilitation officed in San Antonio furnished 600 pair of work gloves and then personally hauled 4 trailer loads of trash. David Ainsworth of Ainsworth Trucking in Corpus Christi provided 2 truck and large trailers filled with ice chest and bottled water for volunteers. Jerry B’s Kayak Sales and Rentals of Corpus Christi donated coupon discounts to volunteers.

Without "getting the word out" this event would never exist and we are extremely grateful to Kellie Smith and Time Warner Cable Media Sales, Texas Saltwater Fishing Magazine, Salty Angler and David Sikes and the Caller Times for the great publicity they gave the event. Thanks to Gambler Specialitys for doing such a good job of the t shirts and to Ben Beaty for his awesome graphic design of the shirts although I must say I’m prettier than depicted. As rough and tough as depicted I’ll admit; but prettier.

Another first for this event is financial contributions to the event and other worthy causes on Padre Island through donations to the newly formed "Friends of Padre." The board of FoP is made up of Dr. David McKee, Tyler Thorsen, Steven Naylor of Round Rock and myself and we were all personally "in the trenches" with everyone else as well as managing the organization. Substantial donations were received from Mr. Leon McNinch and Jim Mayo of the "Ruth Parr Sparks Foundation, Stephen and Donna Gregory (they paid for all the t-shirts and made a sizable donation as well), Kathie and Miller Bassler of Bassler Energy Services in Deanville, Tx. made a donation and organized the Port Mansfield volunteers, Sharkathon, Mr. Jimmy Jackson of Beeville, TX. And Mr. Johnny French.

Sunny Beaches.org was present with 37 volunteers. Mrs. Alvaredo brought 19 school children from Robstown, Tx. Awesome.

And my friend of more years than I care to recall, Mr. Ace Leal, who you may only know as "the t-shirt guy" deserves a very big THANK YOU ACE because he earned it several times over this year. He not only handled most of the chores concerning the t-shirts; which has been unusually complicated this year but has been my main "go to" guy on every aspect of planning this very complicated event. When everyone else was busy with something else Ace’s reply was always "sure I will" or "I’ll be over in a few minutes."

I am very proud and blessed to be a part of this event. If you take a moment and think about how crazy everything around us is these days and how many people are getting caught behaving horribly over selfish greed and a total lack of concern for anyone else or any thing but themselves this event stands tall and proud as proof that there are still kind, concerned, selfless people who not only are willing to give of themselves but to eagerly do so simply because something needs doing and nothing is expected in return. Each of us walked among such people Saturday and were counted in their number and it honors us and it honors PINS. As always, YOU ARE MY HEROES. Humbly your brother in the sand,

Capt. Billy L. Sandifer