Sadie Says: Don’t be a poopie head. Pick up your trash and don’t litter on the beach!

By Joe Sinagra

She is only 7 years old from Manville, NJ, and already knows how to get things done. On June 7, Sadie Fleming was at Monmouth County’s Union Beach that Sunday morning with her family.

The Union Beach Borough is part of the Bayshore Regional Strategic Plan, recently undergoing an extensive restoration of its beach front due to the effects of hurricane Sandy. The beach offers a view of the New York City skyline and the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge.

Walking along the beach with her mom, dad, and her sister, Sadie couldn’t help but notice how dirty it was. Sadie was visibly upset that adults weren’t being responsible with their trash and not throwing their litter in the garbage. She was concerned that all that trash would wind up in the ocean, potentially killing the fish and wildlife.

Expressing her anger to her parents she took her beach sand grabber, a bucket and along with her sister Alexandra, Sadie decided she was going to do something about it. Even as she and her sister filled their little pink bucket, beachgoers watched but no one took the hint and watched, with some even after seeing her efforts still discarded cigarettes, wrappers.

While most children would be content to play in the sand and go swimming, Sadie and her little sister spent over two hours picking up discarded items left behind and collected over 30 pails, emptying each one into the trash receptacle. Sadie’s only request is that she wishes that her efforts can motivate others to do the same to help save the fish, wildlife and have a cleaner beach.