Chula Vistans can bike, recycle and learn about environmentalism and healthy lifestyles at one of the city’s biggest events, Go Green & Clean Family Day hosted by the Otay Ranch Town Center on Saturday, April 27 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
The full day of activities combines events once held separately such as South Bay YMCA’s Healthy Kids Day and the
EastLake Educational Foundation’s Cycle EastLake & Half Marathon.
For the fourth consecutive year the City of Chula Vista, South Bay Family YMCA, The Eastlake Educational Foundation and Computers 2 SD Kids have joined forces to hold the one-day event benefiting the entire community.
“We were essentially all working around similar missions, creating a healthy environment for the community, stronger families, so it really made sense to combine all our events together, and the Otay Ranch Center was nice enough to host all of us,” said Michelle Castagnola, Chula Vista Environmental Resource Specialist.
Tina Medina of Otay Ranch Town Center said the April 27 combined event benefits businesses, the city and participating environmental and health organizations alike.
“Everyone can learn about energy efficiency and sustainable building materials and bring in e-waste and household hazardous wastes for recycling as well as participate in a prescription drug take back,” Medina said adding, “People can also enter a scavenger hunt for a chance to win gift cards. The event gets people into the mall, benefits all of the organizations involved, and helps cement their partnership with the city of Chula Vista.”
“It’s one day, one location, one time to make it easy for everyone to participate in a community event,” said Rebecca Kelley, marketing director for South Bay Family YMCA, a Go Green & Clean co-sponsor. “We want to be able to offer all the community’s resources in an easily attainable fashion. That’s why we’ve come together.”
Kelley said the YMCA’s Healthy Kids Day is a nationwide event promoting healthy lifestyles for families.
“On April 27, South Bay YMCA will be offering a free family boot camp that morning promoting and celebrating our fitness program with two stages packed with everything from high school marching bands to martial arts,” she said.
“It’s also the day we launch our summer camp with a sign up booth at the mall for Go Green.”
Cheri Pierre, executive director of Computers 2 SD Kids, a nonprofit providing computers to children of low-income families, agreed the hybrid Go Green & Clean Family Day is something special and unprecedented.
“What I like is the collaborative nature of this event with quite a few organizations pulling together so it’s inclusive and team-oriented,” Pierre said. “The whole focus is what we can provide to the community, so they don’t have to go to one event or the other. We can come together and really provide a fun, family day that’s environmentally and educationally rich. The opportunity to see different organizations collaborate – you don’t always see that.”
Computers 2 SD Kids will have a huge section of parking lot where people can bring in all of their electronic and hazardous household wastes to be recycled ultimately benefitinglow-income kids and their families.
The city of Chula Vista’s Go Green and Clean Family Day is hosted by the city’s CLEAN Team which educates the community about clean air, clean water and clean land. The event features environmentally-focused information and activities including: the South Bay Energy Road Show, CLEAN Scavenger Hunt, household hazardous waste recycling event with a prescription drug take back as well as recycling used grocery bags for a new re-usable grocery bags, and do-it-yourself car oil-recycling kits.
One of the of the many highlights of Go Green & Clean is EastLake Educational Foundation’s largest annual fundraiser, Cycle EastLake, which this year includes the first-ever EastLake Half Marathon. In three separate events – EastLake Half Marathon, 5K Family Roll & Stroll and Cycle Poker Ride – individuals and families can take advantage of scenic neighborhoods, parks and lakes with a bike ride, run, jog or walk. Proceeds from the event benefit all six of EastLake’s public schools providing technology enhancements in the classroom.
The EastLake Educational Foundation (EEF) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit foundation established in 1995 with the mission of raising funds to support the highest quality educational opportunities in the public schools within the community of EastLake. Through community support, the EEF has been able to provide over $1.5 million to equally benefit all six EastLake public schools including EastLake Elementary, Olympic View Elementary, Salt Creek Elementary, Arroyo Vista Charter School, EastLake Middle and EastLake High.
For more information about Go Green & Clean Family Day visit www.chulavistaca.gov/clean or www.eefkids.org/cycle..
