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- Clara's Kids Club Program Archive
Clara's Kids Club Program Archive
Clara's Kids Club Youth Litter Cleanup Education Program was founded in April of 2023 to provide students an opportunity to become environmental stewards in their community within a safe environment. Since then, the program has grown and cleaned up hundreds of pounds of litter! This page contains all archived data from the events.
Clara's Kids Club Highlights from 2025!
in 2025, Keep Charleston Beautiful hosted 10 Clara's Kids Club Youth Litter Sweeps in 8 different city parks throughout Charleston. All together, we had 256 volunteers participate and collect 585 pounds of litter - talk about Tiny Hands, BIG Impact! We are grateful to all the kids and families that came out to learn more about environmental stewardship and help us keep Charleston beautiful. Check out the table below for a complete list of locations, volunteers, and how much litter was collected at each event:
| Location | Community | # of Participants | Litter Cleaned Up! |
| Brittlebank Park | Peninsula | 29 (1st event) 15 (2nd event) | 49 lbs (1st event) 13 lbs (2nd event) |
| Daniel Island Park | Daniel Island | 28 | 55 lbs |
| Hampton Park | Peninsula | 15 | 2.5 lbs |
| Melton P Demetre Park | James Island | 58 | 107.5 lbs |
| Northbridge Park | West Ashley | 22 | 44 lbs |
| West Ashley Greenway | West Ashley | 10 (1st event) 20 (2nd event) | 15 lbs (1st event) 175 lbs (2nd event) |
| West Ashley Library | West Ashley | 45 | 1.5 lbs |
| West Ashley Park | West Ashley | 20 | 40 lbs |
| Waterfront Park | Peninsula | 30 | 78 lbs |
Clara's Kids Club was featured in local news outlets once again and what an event to come out to! Click on the picture below to check out the full video and article about our final cleanup of 2025! We love what we do, and we couldn't do what we do with YOU!
2025 CLARA'S KIDS CLUB
That's a wrap on the 2025 Clara's Kids Club!
This year, we had 11 youth-oriented community cleanup events in City Parks throughout Charleston. From Daniel Island to James Island and downtown to West Ashley, 256 VOLUNTEERS participated and collected 585 POUNDS of litter! That is a HUGE win for our ecosystems and all the critters that call it home. We are grateful to all the kids and families that came out to learn more about environmental stewardship and help keep Charleston beautiful!
Clara's Kids Club Highlights from 2024!
2024 was the first year that Clara's Kids Club Youth Litter Cleanup Education Program was offered year-round and we were impressed with the increased participation! We are very thankful for the students and families that chose to participate at one or more of our events. Our volunteers are truly making an impact in our community and we look forward to continuing this program in 2025.
From January to December, KCB's education coordinator hosted 13 public Clara's Kids Club events and 4 school/community-based litter cleanups. Collectively, student volunteers diverted 533.87 pounds of litter from 12 locations! Check out the tables below for a complete list of locations, volunteers, and how much litter was collected at each event.
Location | Community | # of Participants | Litter Cleaned Up! |
Brittlebank Park | Peninsula | 7 | 2 lbs |
Daniel Island Trail | Daniel Island | 5 | 16 lbs |
Hampton Park | Peninsula | 15 | 12.52 lbs |
Johns Island Park | Johns Island | 10 | 12.48 lbs |
Mary Utsey Playground | West Ashley | 22 | 27 lbs |
Melton P Demetre Park | James Island | 15 | 7.1 lbs |
Moultrie Playground | Peninsula | 19 | 10.4 lbs |
Northbridge Park | West Ashley | 8 | 8.84 lbs |
West Ashley Greenway (2 events) | West Ashley | (1st event) 18 (2nd event) 13 | (1st event) 130.8 lbs (2nd event) 36.64 lbs |
West Ashley Park (2 events) | West Ashley | (1st event) 15 (2nd event) 42 | (1st event) 10.5 lbs (2nd event) 57.8 lbs |
School / Community Center | Location | # of Participants | Litter Cleaned Up! |
Ashley Hall Early School | Brittlebank Park | 44 | 50.38 lbs |
| James Island Learning Co-Op (public event) | Pinckney Park | 10 | 1.71 lbs |
| Charleston Charter School for Math & Science | along Johnson St | 11 | 115 lbs |
St. Julian Devine Community Center | Peninsula | 15 | 12.52 lbs |
| Ashley Hall School | Hampton Park | 35 | 22.48 lbs |
Keep South Carolina Beautiful Awarded Clara's Kids Club as Program of the Year for 2024!!
Excited to share that Clara's Kids Club Youth Litter Cleanup Education Program was awarded Program of the Year by Keep South Carolina Beautiful! This award would not have been possible without the involvement of our youth volunteers and their families. Their work does not go unnoticed and we are so proud to share this moment with the community. From April 2023 to September 2024, Clara's Kids Club volunteers have picked up 651 pounds of litter from our parks! #tinyhandsbigimpact
Additionally, we would like to recognize our education coordinator (Taylor Simkins) for all the work she's put into this program! Taylor started Clara's Kids Club in 2023 to engage students outside the classroom. Since then, she has hosted 25 litter cleanups and connected with over 400 volunteers. At most events, you may find Taylor both in and out of the Clara costume! In addition to basic litter prevention knowledge, Taylor has utilized her Bachelors degree to challenge youth volunteers to think about how their actions impact local wildlife and ecosystems. We are so grateful for all the hard work and dedication that Taylor has put towards this program!!
A huge thank you to each child and parent that have given their time to pick up litter at our Charleston Parks, and for those that have volunteered their time to become Clara! We look forward to hosting more events!! #LitterPrevention
Clara's Kids Club 2024 Volunteers of the Year
As 2024 comes to an end, Keep Charleston Beautiful would like to recognize Scarlett and Sylvia as Clara's Kids Club volunteers of the year!!! They attended 6 cleanups, helped divert over 150 pounds of litter, and actively shared their environmental stewardship with others! We are so very proud of their hard work and dedication their year. Using the link below, check out our Facebook post recognizing these lovely ladies!
https://www.facebook.com/reel/1250310176239689
Clara's Kids Club Highlights from 2023!
Clara's Kids Club first event was held at Brittlebank Park, and expanded to reach other parks throughout the City of Charleston. In addition to publicly open events, KCB's education coordinator (Taylor Simkins) partnered with the City of Charleston's Department of Recreation to give summer camp students their own opportunity to pick up litter around their community centers. Between Clara's Kids Club and the summer camp litter education events, student volunteers collected a total of 289.82 pounds of litter across 15 youth litter cleanup events in 2023!!
Given the overwhelming amount of positive feedback from the community, Clara's Kids Club has extended to host one cleanup a month throughout the year. Check out the tables below for a complete list of locations, volunteers, and how much litter was collected at each event.
Location | Community | # of Participants | Litter Cleaned Up! |
Brittlebank Park | Peninsula | 25 | 60 lbs |
Hampton Park | Peninsula | 8 | 2 lbs |
Melton Peter Demetre Park (2 events) | James Island | (1st event) 3 (2nd event) 9 | (1st event) 2.44 lbs (2nd event) 11.2 lbs |
Johns Island Park | Johns Island | 14 | 10.78 lbs |
Daniel Island Trail (2 events) | Daniel Island | (1st event) 5 (2nd event) 15 | (1st event) 22 lbs (2nd event) 80 lbs |
Northbridge Park | West Ashley | 10 | 30 lbs |
West Ashley Greenway | West Ashley | 17 | 100 lbs |
West Ashley Park | West Ashley | 13 | 6.2 lbs |
Summer Camp | # of Participants | Litter Cleaned Up! |
St. Julian Devine Community Center | 30 | 3.78 pounds |
Bees Landing Recreation Center | 30 | 19.52 pounds |
Forest Park Playground | 14 | 11.44 pounds |
Arthur W. Christopher Community Center | 14 | 8.82 pounds |
James Island Recreation Complex | 50 | 21.64 pounds |
Clara's Kids Club 2023 Volunteers of the Year
Keep Charleston Beautiful would like to recognize two families for their hard work and commitment to our cause in 2023! The Wolfrom family and Millard family both attended many of our free public events throughout the year, contributing the most to the sum of litter collected. We are so thankful for their participation in our program, and we have enjoyed watching these young environmental stewards develop along the way!