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Cleanups

South Bay Clean Creeks Coalition conducts regular creek cleanup events on the Los Gatos Creek, Guadalupe River, and on the Coyote Creek. These cleanups are generally organized under our TEAM 222 Program. All we ask of you is two hours of your time (2), on the second Saturday (2) of every other month (2) = TEAM 222. Join TEAM 222 for one cleanup or for many cleanups. If you can spare two hours on a Saturday morning, please join us and you’ll be amazed what can be accomplished in such a short period of time.

We also have and encourage companies along our waterways to sponsor company cleanup events. Apple, Exactly, Google, Home Depot, Intel, Netflix, and San Jose State University have all joined us in the past. If your company has Community Service events, please keep us in mind and contact us to get involved.

We have three types of volunteers and all are critical to our success in cleaning up our creeks and rivers:

  • Cleanup Volunteers – these volunteers are the heart of the organization, without them we wouldn’t Cleanup Volunteersexist.
    No special skills or tools needed – just a desire to restore our creeks and rivers to their former glory.
    We supply the gloves, bags, and trash grabbers on the day of the cleanup.
    Every little bit helps to reclaim and restore our creeks and rivers.
    We strive to have at least one cleanup location on each waterway we serve (Los Gatos Creek, Guadalupe River, and the Coyote Creek) We have volunteers as young as seven years old and volunteers who have long ago retired. Join us for our next cleanup, we will gladly put you to work. Simply have your parents download, fill out and sign the waiver form required by the City of San Jose.
  • Team Leaders/Team Captains – This is a group of volunteers who have gained experienced in cleaning up the rivers and creeks, and they are the on-the-ground coordinators of the Cleanup LeadersTEAM 222 efforts. They lead groups the day of the cleanup and locate high-value cleanup spots (like places that have been used as camp sites or dumping grounds for household items … and yes, we’ve pulled out freezers, refrigerators, lots of couches, mattresses, and more carpet than we can imagine). They are also responsible for safely removing needles and other potentially dangerous items. They keep track of the volunteers on the cleanup to make sure they are safe, return to the collection spot at the end of the day, and they make sure all of the trash collected is brought to the staging area for safe removal by the sponsoring government agency (City of San Jose, Santa Clara Valley Water District, Department of Parks and Recreation, etc). If this opportunity suits you, contact us.
  • Back-Office Team – We have a small group of people who keep all of the administrative functions going. This type of volunteer effort could help with grant writing, answering correspondence, maintaining the website, updating our social media sites, taking pictures at cleanups etc. If this opportunity suits you, contact us.