Today is our final day of our week-long marathon Beach Clean Up. It was hard work and it's hard to admit that so much progress is yet to be had, but the strides made by hundreds of volunteers this week cannot be ignored. Thank you to everyone who chipped in and helped us make a dent in the trash that lines our shores.
Why is it that with so much promise and so much hope for a brighter future in the winds these days, more people do not see that the future of Our State, Our City and Our Children flows freely in the waters that sit just feet from our homes. Long Island Sound, a treasure that built fortunes for our forefathers and a resource that holds so much promise for our future, is still assaulted by trash, by tainted run off and by neglect.
Our mission at CCB is to help show our community what LIS means to all of us. For the young, it is a classroom, a playground and a tutor that offers a host of benefits from lessons in self-worth to a life-time of education in exercise and healthy living. For adults, it is a chance to unwind and appreciate our community that is fully apart from the I-95 rat race. For those with special needs, it offers life skills, presents rewarding challenges resulting in developmental growth and a platform for fresh air and sunshine. And for our economy, LIS offers tourism dollars, business opportunities and lessons in green technology from by-gone eras.
The trash we pick up today may not alter the course of human events or even save a small portion of the wildlife we hope to protect. But it does help us mobilize and motivate those who have been shut out from the water and turned away from our greatest natural resource. By lending a hand in cleanup efforts we have shown our community some of the damage that is wrought from the senseless act of mis-disposal of trash. Our week-long effort has raised eyes from newspapers, TV and radio. And our efforts have helped show our political leadership that our residents care about LIS and that we expect great things from them for the future of our waters.
Today is the last day of Beach Week, but only the beginning of what is to come. We will mobilize our community by getting them sailing and caring about our waters. We will show a generation of kids who have been declined access to the water that LIS is their birthright and theirs to appreciate and learn from. When the last bag is stacked today, we will just be starting to tackle the issues that face our youth, our families and our community. We will teach every man, woman and child to sail and aid them in their enjoyment of Long Island Sound. We will host even more efforts to access the most remote regions of our waterfront with our fleet of 50 vessels and while there attempt to gather as much of the flotsam and jetsam that chokes our waterways.
This is just the start of what is to come and for those who have helped us this week, we pledge that your efforts will not be in vain. Your efforts are the seeds that will grow into a future of water awareness and will smooth the waves for a journey for every resident of our community who partakes of a warm summer day with sun and salt air that is as pristine as it was when the first Americans dropped anchor and called these waters home.
Thank you for all you have done and thank you for supporting Connecticut Community Boating. It is your hard work that has made this week a success and it is for you that we will continue to strive to make a difference in our community. Thank you.
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