Joshua of Bridgewater, NJ, recently had his Bar Mitzvah in April of this year. As part of his rite of passage, Joshua organized a Mitzvah Project to clean up the waterways near his home.
“I love the ocean and have an interest in marine biology,” Joshua tells Mitzvah Mail. “This Project was a way for me to get involved in the community and to help people and marine life.”
Joshua hooked up with Clean Ocean Action, based in Sandy Hook, NJ, and the South Branch Watershed Association, based in Flemington, NJ, to do his part in trying to make a difference in the cleanliness of the water.
“My mom went online and checked where we could help clean up the ocean,” Joshua explains as far as how he got his Project organized. “We started by going to Sandy Hook, NJ. They have a beach sweep twice a year in April and October. It is a lot of fun; they get hundreds of people who help. We found hundreds of cigarette butts and lots of bottle caps. We logged everything that we found. The same is done when we cleaned the river, except at the river we found furniture, appliances and plywood. I find it very sad that people do not care about the water that we swim in or where we catch fish.”
Joshua plans on continuing to participate in beach sweeps and stream clean-ups even now that his Mitzvah Project has officially come to an end.
In a time when there is a lot of talk about being “green” and caring about the environment around us, we at Mitzvah Mail, applaud Joshua for actually getting out there and doing something active about it! Thank you Joshua! You are truly making a difference!
