NCBBA’s first Operation Beach Respect and Adopt-A-Highway event of 2023 will be held on Saturday, April 1

On Saturday, April 1, the North Carolina Beach Buggy Association (NCBBA) will once again launch its Operation Beach Respect program, where NCBBA members are stationed at every beach access ramp from Bodie Island to Ocracoke to hand out information packets and trash bags to beachgoers.

“We chose April 1 to include the seasonal [ORV] ramps #23 and #34, so all ramps from #2 thru #55 will have coverage including Ramp #70 on Ocracoke Island,” stated Tom Brueckner, NCBBA Director, in a press release. “After a busy winter storm season, volunteers and their families are needed to ‘hit’ the beaches to do the actual combing of the beach and load up their [4-wheel-drive vehicles] with rubbish.”

Celebrating its 39th year in 2023, Operation Beach Respect is held in conjunction with the organization’s Adopt-a-Highway program, also occurring on April 1.

For the Adopt-a-Highway clean-up, volunteers will meet at the ORV Ramp 4 parking lot at 7:30 a.m., where Director Carol Mowers will hand out grabbers, reflection vests, gloves, and garbage bags, and provide a route location assignment.

The Adopt-A-Highway clean-up event is held four times a year in April, June, September, and November, and targets the three-mile stretch of N.C. Highway 12 from the Basnight Bridge to a half mile north of Coquina Beach or ORV Ramp 2.

All volunteers are welcome to join in the Adopt-a-Highway clean-up, while ORV beachgoers on April 1 can expect to connect with an NCBBA member with valuable info, and a trash bag to patrol their stretch of sand.

“Beachgoers can expect to be greeted by NCBBA members as they enter their favorite beach access ramp on the morning of Saturday, April 1.  Our members will be stationed to hand out packets of information on the North Carolina Beach Buggy Association and the Cape Hatteras Park Service,” stated Brueckner. “Included in the packet is a large plastic garbage bag. We ask them to walk the beach in the area they park for the day and fill it with any trash or debris found. They are to return their trash collection to the National Park Service garbage cans at the ramp entrance as they leave.”

“We ask all members and volunteers if you are on the Island during any of these dates to consider participating in either event. Operation Beach Respect and Adopt-A-Highway is a great way to give back to the NCBBA and beach community, and a wonderful opportunity to meet new friends and renew old acquaintances.”

For more information on the corresponding clean-up events, as well as on the NCBBA, visit the organization’s website at https://www.ncbba.org/, or their Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/ncbba.