@ermest, an Italy Local Guide and a Connect Moderator and I, @KarenVChin, a San Francisco Bay Area Local Guide hosted 28 Local Guides from every corner of the globe at our first annual Clean the World - Connect Live Edition Meetup early October 16, 2018 morning.
Having this meetup gave many of us the chance to meet and get to know one another more as we cleaned The Presidio, one of the true gems of the U.S. National Parks and one of the best outdoor destinations of San Francisco, prior to the official start of Connect Live.
We arrived at the Presidio Transit Center to meet Jason, our Presidio Trust Volunteer Coordinator, at 9 am
Jason took us to an open area to introduce The Presidio, a former 1,500 acre U.S. Army military base. Since 1994, The Presidio has been converted into to become one of the parks of the U.S. National Park Service and Golden Gate Recreational Park Area, a place where many San Franciscans can play, live, and work. It is also the home of Lucasfilm (Star Wars fame) and the Walt Disney Family Museum.
He told us how important volunteers are to help keep The Presidio clean for everyone, both locals and visitors who visit San Francisco, like many of us, Local Guides, who came here from around the world.Yesenia, our Presidio Trust Volunteer Intern, shared with us how important it is for people to keep parks and open spaces clean, free of trash, especially plastics and toxic materials from waterways.
As we listen to both Jason and Yesenia, we were blessed by the breathtaking 360-degree views of the famous Golden Gate Bridge and the San Francisco Bay as our “background.”
Our first 360 photo as a group. Thanks Italy Local Guide @davidhyno for sharing.
Ermes shared with us why he started the Local Guides Clean The World Project and the importance of taking what we learned here and bringing it back to our own Local Guides Communities, to help spread the word of keeping our world clean by picking up trash, recycling, and reducing our use of plastics, etc.
The power of Local Guides in action - we started to CLEAN!
Jason showed us how to separate trash - paper, plastic, and pure trash that cannot be recycled.
We got ourselves ready to take another 360 group photo under @LudwigGermany, Germany Local Guide and Connect Moderator’s direction.
Along Crissy Field is the San Francisco Bay Trail with panoramic views of the Golden Gate Bridge, the San Francisco Bay, the Marin Headlands, Alcatraz, Angel Island and the San Francisco skyline that visitors can see while walking, running, picnicking, or cycling. It’s amazing that visiting The Presidio is free – No charge to walk around and be in this U.S. National Park.
Right off the Warming Hut is a pier called Torpedo Wharf. This was an incredible area to take photos of the Golden Gate Bridge. You are that close you can almost touch the Bridge. Of course, being Local Guides we had to take photos, videos, 360s, and selfies!
Myanmar Local Guide @Lattoria wins for most creative Local Guides group meetup photo taking!
Yes! He caught all of our attention as he stood in the distance on the San Francisco Bay Trail and caught us happily waving. This was not staged photo by no means. = )
Powered by Local Guides - Clean the World Connect Live 2018 Edition
How we ended our 3 hrs of cleaning is an interesting thing to think about.
HUGE THANKS
Ermes and I would like to thank Jason and Yesenia from The Presidio Trust for helping us host our first annual Clean The World - Connect Live Edition Meetup. They both provided a lot of information about The Presidio, the U.S. National Parks Service, and the importance of keeping public places clean so we can all enjoy them as a community for many generations to come.
We also want to give big “thank yous” and warm hugs to all the Connect Live 2018 Local Guides attendees who chose to spend their time with us that early October Tuesday morning prior to the official afternoon start of Connect Live.
We know they could have chosen to do and see so many other different things in San Francisco that morning. We were blessed by their energy and enthusiastic “powered by Local Guides” spirit to help clean a part of San Francisco.
Huge thanks and much appreciation in making our inaugural Clean the World - Connect Live Edition such a fantastic success!
See and read more about our Clean The World - Connect Live 2018 Edition Meetup Recap
Check out our Google Photos shared group album (collectively 165+ photos & videos).
Watch Our Clean The World - Connect Live 2018 Meetup Recap Video
Visit and learn more about The Presidio and how to volunteer your time with The Presidio Trust
– https://www.presidio.gov
– https://www.presidio.gov/presidio-trust
Interested in Ermes’ Local Guides Clean The World Project and want to learn how to join and help your own community, click here.
Cheers,
Karen and Ermes