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Irvine students join Marines for creek cleanup mission

by in News

A day off from school was put to productive use by more than two dozen Irvine middle schoolers, who cleaned up a stretch of San Diego Creek near the Lakeview Senior Center on Monday, Feb. 11.

The date was significant, and the event brought out some special guests: five Marines from the Camp Pendleton-based 2nd Battalion, 11th Marines, also known as the 2/11. The city adopted the battalion in 2007 and, through a volunteer committee, sponsors holiday events, sends care packages and provides other support for service members and their families.

  • Rio Matsuoka, 14, an eighth-grader at South Lake Middle School in Irvine takes part in the Youth Action Team creek clean-up service project in Irvine on Monday, February 11, 2019. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

  • Lorenzo Garcia, 12, and Bianca Morrell, 11, from Cadence Park School in Irvine, find a water logged plastic pot during the Youth Action Team creek clean-up day on Monday, February 11, 2019. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

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  • Twenty-seven students from 11 different schools and 5 Marines, take part in the Youth Action Team creek clean-up community service project on Monday, February 11, 2019. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

  • AJ Olsen, 13, and Maeva Malcheski, 12, from Lakeside Middle School carry the remnants of what appears to be a rusty shopping cart that they fetched from an Irvine creek on Monday, February 11, 2019. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

  • While students and Marines clean up a creek in Irvine an inhabitant looks. The Youth Action Team of students and five Marines took part in the community service day on Monday, February 11, 2019. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

  • A water logged, muddy plastic pot is part of the trash collected during the Youth Action Team creek clean-up day on Monday, February 11, 2019. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

  • A muddy shopping cart is rescued from an Irvine creek by students in the Youth Action Team during creek clean-up day on Monday, February 11, 2019. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

  • Meaghan Fisher and David Palacios, both 12, keep a happy attitude while taking part in the Youth Action Team creek clean-up day in Irvine on Monday, February 11, 2019. The pair said they found a pill bottle with pills inside, a cloth towel and whiskey bottles. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

  • Marines from the Camp Pendleton-based 2nd Battalion, 11th Marines join students in the Youth Action Team to clean up a creek in Irvine on Monday, February 11, 2019. PFC Angel Gurrola, from left, Cem Yildiz, 13, PFC Thomas Stewart, and Rio Matsuoka, 14, drag debris up a hill. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

  • Meaghan Fisher and David Palacios, both 12, take part in the Youth Action Team creek clean-up day in Irvine on Monday, February 11, 2019. The pair said they found a pill bottle with pills inside, a cloth towel and whiskey bottles. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

  • A pile of junk recovered from an Irvine creek is ready for the trash dump after being collected by 27 students and 5 Marines on Monday, February 11, 2019. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

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The students, who belong to the city’s Youth Action Team, braved a muddy slope carrying trash bags to collect plastic bottles, sodden scraps of cardboard, a stray orange pylon and even a shopping cart, which they struggled to wheel through the muck.

“I think this was a good day to do it, because we just had rain,” said 13-year-old Lilly Huffmire, who was combing the hillside with 12-year-old Elina Saini. Both girls attend Venado Middle School.

“It’s important to help our community, and I feel like it’s our responsibility to help them,” Huffmire said of the Marines.

Besides helping coordinate the creek cleanup, the Irvine 2/11 Marine Adoption Committee holds activities year-round, including a baby shower for Marine families who are expecting, creating “welcome home” bags for service members returning from deployment, and raising money to help fund the annual Birthday Ball, a Marine Corps tradition, said Kayla Barzan, the adoption committee’s event coordinator.

“Irvine is a great sponsor,” said Marine Lt. Kurt James, one of the five battalion members who came to help the students clean up.

The committee held a Christmas party on the Marine base with a visit from Santa and gifts for the children, and residents welcome as dinner guests Marines who don’t have family locally, he said.

“They help us out a lot,” James said, “so we like to be involved when we can.”