The American Samoa National Olympic Committee’s (ASNOC) Sports and Environment Commission is teaming up with the American Samoa Power Authority (ASPA) and the Department of Parks and Recreation to conduct a program called ‘Love Your Coast’ — and the coast for which they are currently showing the love is around the Pala Lagoon, tennis courts and Lions Park side.

“Actually, ASPA has started the project already and along with the Department of Parks and Recreation have cleaned up the Lions Park. The agencies involved are ASPA, the Department of Parks and Recreation and the Sports and Environment Commission of the ASNOC,” said Chairman of the Sports and Environment Commission Carl Floor, Sr.

“Right now the sports groups that we have representing us are the American Samoa Team Handball Association, the American Samoa Basketball Association and the American Samoa Tennis Association,” he said.

The chair said that this is a trial run, but they plan on doing a much larger clean up around the Pala Lagoon this coming June 27 — and he welcomes any sports organizations to come and join. He said that they will need people with canoes and small boats to come out to help haul out the bagged trash. They will also be weighing and identifying materials that they collect.

“We are going to have the kids do the identifying and weighing so that they can use their skills in math and identification. We also want to take some of the kids to see where this trash is taken, and to see what the landfill looks like,” said Floor.

He explained that at the very end of the project, there is going to be a plan developed based on the data of the trash that they collect, and the information will be used within their sports programs to replace some things they consume that will cause less litter and trash.

“We want to blend health and environment all into one program, by doing things like replacing bags of chips with healthy foods like fruits, which in turn will leave less trash on the ground,” Floor explained.

If your sports organization wishes to join the event on June 27, you can contact Floor at 770-4954.

There were close to 30 kids who participated yesterday from the various sports organizations. Floor said that hopes to get a lot more kids involved on the 27th.

Coincidentally, World Environment Day was June 5, while World Ocean Day was June 8. To learn more about the Love Your Coast project you can go to their website at www.loveyourcoast.org.