Palmetto Bay’s parks are the pride of the Village, and so are the wonderful volunteers who help preserve them. This weekend, members of Turtle Team worked with our Parks & Recreation Department to organize a canal and land cleanup at Coral Reef Park. Established near the start of the COVID pandemic to provide a safe and easy way for people to help their communities, Turtle Team is a charitable non-profit organization that plans and facilitates cleanup operations. The group also issues certificates for volunteer hours to anyone who performs a cleanup on their own then submits the details to Turtle Team.
Hunter Sosa, one of Turtle Team’s founders, is a 16-year-old student at Miami-Palmetto Senior High School. “This group has only been active for two years, but I’ve been doing work like this all my life,” he said. “Ever since I was in elementary school, I’ve always been involved in one community cleanup project or another.”
Members of the Miami-Dade Schools Police Department were also on hand to offer supervision and guidance. “Since police are public service workers, one of the most important lessons we learn is to give back to the community,” said Officer Anthony Martinez. “Helping clean up the parks is a great way for us to demonstrate that.”
Mayor Karyn Cunningham and Vice Mayor Leanne Tellam came out to support Turtle Team and thank them for their hard work and dedication. Thanks to groups like theirs, our parks stay green and clean so our residents can enjoy them!
