A week of cleanup at Gateway National Park with SCA and AEO
Working 10-hour days hauling debris, constructing a boardwalk and cleaning up in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy wouldn’t be an ideal summer project for most college students.
But for Kihei’s Jamal William Garcia, it was something that inspired him. The 18-year-old sophomore-to-be at Wake Forest University in North Carolina wouldn’t mind doing more backbreaking work as long as it helps the environment.
The 2012 Maui High School graduate recently returned from New York, where he and nearly 20 other young adults from all over the country were chosen to spend a week to assist with the ongoing cleanup effort at Gateway National Recreation Area. It is a national park of more than 26,000 acres made up of land and water in New York City and New Jersey. Most of the area was affected by Sandy last fall. The storm toppled trees, damaged buildings and left behind tons and tons of debris.