Heroes make the island cleaner, greener

  • Published
  • By 1st Lt. Joe Kreidel
  • 18th Wing Public Affairs
KADENA AIR BASE, Japan --  It's the Year of the Air Force Family, Combined Federal Campaign season, and Saturday, Oct. 24, is the 19th annual Make A Difference Day - there's no better way to celebrate this wholesome alliance than to head out to Kadena Marina at 8 a.m. Oct. 24 for a little old-fashioned community service.

Plans for the cleanup, which is being organized by H.O.P.E. (Heroes Of Planet Earth), include picking up trash, cleaning tombs, planting flowers and shrubs, laying sod for a dog park, and pulling junk from the bay as part of an underwater scrubbing.
 
H.O.P.E. is the brainchild of Mr. Bob Baker, 18th Wing Outdoor Recreation director, who became a believer in conservation seven years ago in Altus, Okla., when he took his family to a local creek to fish and found a trashy cesspool where the creek should have been. 

"It was just disgusting," said Mr. Baker, "and working in OR, I was in a great position to do something."
 
It took a few years to incubate, but H.O.P.E., now eight months old, is up and already running full-steam. Their six service projects, the first of which occurred in February of this year, have seen the participation of hundreds; in April, 201 people showed up to help clean Toguchi Beach.
 
"We try to target areas that see heavy traffic by U.S. personnel," said Mr. Baker, adding that H.O.P.E.'s goals are three-fold: practice conservation, facilitate community cohesion, and show respect for the local community and culture.
 
"Where Zorro left a Z, we leave a green thumbprint," Mr. Baker said.

So far, H.O.P.E. heroes have removed over 10,000 pounds of trash and recyclables, 22 tires, and one recliner. They've planted $3,000 worth of shrubs, pulled countless weeds, and cleaned 14 tombs, 5 of which were covered in such heavy vegetation that no one knew they were there - no American, that is.
 
After the initial Kadena Marina cleanup in February, an elderly Japanese man approached Mr. Baker to express his gratitude for the work done by H.O.P.E. volunteers. As it turns out, his family's tomb had been lost to the jungle for some time.
 
The following quote was extracted from the Interactive Customer Evaluation comment he submitted online: "I truly appreciate H.O.P.E.'s cleanup of my family's tomb near the Marina. Also, that they restored the tombs of people who no longer have a family to care for their tombs. I would like to thank the Marina for allowing this as well as the H.O.P.E. workers."
 
Mr. Baker attributes H.O.P.E.'s success in doing good to their willingness to partner equally with others: "This program has seen a lot of marriages. We're working with the Boy Scouts, with Junior ROTC [Reserve Officer Training Corps], Project Aware, the Live Green program, Club ZERO - lots of partnerships. We're just the medium - we're trying to bring people together to do good things. Anybody that would like to partner... bring it."
 
For more information about the Oct. 24 service project, contact Outdoor Recreation at 959-2811. If you're interested in conservation, but can't make it out to the Kadena Marina this weekend, you might consider donating to one of the dozens of environmental charities funded by the CFC. Speak with your unit CFC representative or visit www.cfcoverseas.org for more information.