2022
@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.
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.
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Cheers,
Karen and Ermes
Wow, what a Recap for this great experience @KarenVChin
I will share more later, but I want to quickly thank you, and all the Local Guides that have been part of this amazing moment.
EDIT: 7 hours later, finally I am here.
You did an amazing job, Karen. I know, of course, a bit of the backstage of this Meet-up, the time for being in touch with Jason, defining place and time. I was so excited, thinking about this Meet-up as the most symbolic moment for Clean the World project (Yes, I still call this a project, a work in progress activity), the introduction of Connect Live '18.
A meet-up that is now becoming, in my mind, "the first edition of..", while next year it will be "The Traditional" Local Guides Clean the World Meet-up.
I cannot tag every Local Guides that decided to spend a few hours with us, helping our planet. But for sure I can tag someone of the back stage. I don't remember if I already did it, but in any case, I can do it again, and again. So, thank you @brittym (you know why) for supporting us.
Well, Jason and Yesenia, thank you so much. Thank you for helping / guiding us. Thank you for caring about the environement. You are not in the community, but I am sure that some Local Guide from the bay area will find a way to reach you with this message.
Thank you everyone
@DavidTito, recap is here.
Hello @KarenVChin , I have still regrets that I just missed that awesome clean the world meetup.
But thank you so much, because I m reading and enjoying , and feeling myself with you guys doing one of my most favourite activity.
Shukriya again. 👌👌
Es una gran recapitulación @KarenVChin, con mucho detalle como nos tienes acostumbrados 👍👏, fue una hermosa experiencia la que tuvimos todos, ya que solamente se toma real conciencia de algo cuando uno lo experimenta personalmente, gracias por darnos el ámbito donde poder hacerlo, también muchas gracias @ErmesT, por tu gran empuje the iniciativa que tienes con este gran proyecto de Clean the World.
Creo que todos los que participamos vivimos varias experiencias ya en el camino se charló con casi todos y también tomamos muchas fotos, fue una gran experiencia Local Guides 🙂
Farid, ya listo para hacer un nuevo encuentro en el 2019...🍀😀
