Going to a rally? Beach? Think twice … use social distancing …

What happened  at a religious rally for Navajos in AZ  held in March 2020  with no social distancing?  The virus spread rapidly.

One story of what’s happening to American Indians:   Instead of 5 minutes to list number of  cases and the dead it took 45 minutes for a radio station to list the dead.

“When a family member dies, we the Diné, whom Spanish conquistadors named the Navajo, send a notice to our local radio station so that everyone in the community can know. Usually the reading of the death notices—the names of those who have passed on, their ages, where they lived and the names of their matrilineal and patrilineal clans—takes no more than five minutes. It used to be very rare to hear about young people dying. But this past week, I listened to 45 minutes of death notices on KGAK Radio AM 1330. The ages ranged from 26 to 89, with most of the dead having been in their 30s, 40s or 50s.e names.  

Aptos Psychologist:   In Santa Cruz County, 3 have died, 59 hospitalized, 772 known cases, 321 recovered and 23,000+ tested for Covid-19. 

In Santa Cruz County  local health official  Gail Newel said she was not sure whether or not the spike in new Covid-19 cases was connected to the recent political rallies. She is re-opening the local beaches because   “people are not willing to be governed anymore in that regard”.  Children over age two are now required to wear face masks says Newel.

Anyone looking at  Seacliff State Beach lately will notice the lack of social distancing by groups of people hanging out in front of the beach  restrooms as well as large groups of people  using the beach.

And people are leaving their beach  litter behind. On Sat. July 18,  Live Like Coco   sponsored a Seacliff State Beach Cleanup which  removed heaps of trash from the beach.  About 40+ people attended the Live Like Coco clean up.

 

Share

St. John’s church & Live Like Coco share an Adopt a Beach sign at Seacliff State Beach

Perhaps some future collaboration on beach cleanup?

Two  very different entities share the same sign.  They share a new Adopt-A-Beach sign at Seacliff State Beach.

St. John’s episcopal church is  located close to Seacliff State Beach.   The Live Like Coco Foundation has its roots in  a  Watsonville elementary school, Starlight,  which has  a large Hispanic population.

The Live Like Coco Foundation, through the efforts of 125-150 individuals,   raised $5+ K to memorialize the life of Coco, a  12 year old who died in a car accident in 2015.    Coco,  loved books, cats and numerous  out of doors activities. Her parents in conjunction with Starlight Elementary in Watsonville, CA    raised  money   to provide scholarships for extra-curricular activities.  The Live Like Coco  Foundation wants   Santa Cruz County children  to have opportunities to  experience various  out of doors  activities and  ‘realize their dreams’.

The Live Like Coco Foundation plans a Beach Cleanup on Sat. July 18 at 9 am.  Take a look on Facebook for up-to-date information on the Foundation.     For some general information click Here.

Both  St. John’s and Live Like Coco  share a strong interest in the  education of youth and stewardship of the world’s resources.

For a $200 donation, various  organizations can get their name and publicity on an   Adopt-A-Beach sign  — with the proviso that they do several cleanups a year.

St. John’s episcopal  held  their  second  beach cleanup  the day  after Independence Day.

The  St. John’s  Publicity/Communications team  thought   that Save Our Shores (SOS) personnel would bring equipment  and tally sheets for the July 6 event.      SOS did not show and the church’s  Senior Warden  wrote that, therefore,  the church was   not able to tally up kind and amount of beach trash gathered.  A third  St. John cleanup is planned for September.

Beach cleanups are popular at St. John’s.  St. John’s  has a long  history of  various  enviornmental concerns and interest in  protecting the earth’s resources.  For example, at  church functions they typically  use pottery mugs instead of paper cups and, pre-Covid 19, did not use plastic.

Save Our Shores  (SOS)  was not amiss for not showing up  July 6 at Seacliff State Beach  with tally sheets  and  equipment.    The SOS   website states that all public events and all beach cleanups have been  cancelled until future notice.

Save Our Shores suggests  on their website that individuals use their  SOS app to tally up and send back information on trash gathered from CA beaches.

The app is readily available, easy to download to smart phones,  and easy to use.   Whether or not  COVID-19 is still affecting SOS sponsored Beach Cleanups  in September the app can readily be used to tally up trash removal.

So — in planning the next St. John’s Beach Cleanup  for  September  why not do it jointly with Watsonville  youth  connected with the Live Like Coco Foundation ?  Both entities could do Beach Cleanup together, and then share  hot dogs, pizza and tamales?    Socialize a bit?  It would be easy, also, to  include  the youth that are part of St.John’s education  outreach to Aptos  Junior High.  Just takes a little planning and outreach to  the Live Like Coco Foundation.  Nice way to remember and memorialize 12 year old Coco who would be age 17 now had she lived.

All  lives matter.

written by licensed psychologist,  Cameron Jackson      DrCameronJackson@gmail.com

 

 

 

 

Share