PLAYA DEL REY, Calif. – Equipped with her shirt and tutu, Playa del Rey resident Sara Kay is getting ready for a mission.
“I’m going to head out to meet up with some of the other fairies,” says Kay.
Since the summer, she has been following this same routine. She arms herself with her wand, and heads to the rendez vous point.
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“This is our fairy wand grabber because picking up trash should be fun, and magical,” says Kay.
Kay is the founder of Playa Del Rey Trash Fairies, a group of residents that dress up like magical creatures and volunteer 20 minutes of their week to make trash disappear.
“It was really important to me to set a tone around this… I wanted to see could we turn around the irritation of Playa del Ray getting trashed, into something that people look forward to and is really fun,” says Kay.
She thought of the idea back in July after seeing litter in her neighborhood. She invited folks to join her on social media; and now she says, they are growing rapidly.
“We are up to 20 trash fairies and there’s parent child teams, which I love,” said Kay.
One of the things that has allowed PDR Trash Fairies to grow so rapidly is that you can volunteer on your own time, without adhering to a set schedule.
Despite their fun costumes it is serious business cleaning up these streets. Not even her father was given a shirt until he completed his fairy duties.
“No nepotism everybody has to follow the rules, you have to clean up to get your fairy wand. He knows that I run a very tight fairy ship,” says Kay.
They get a lot of looks and even more people saying thank you. Sometimes people ask how they can get involved.
“They love the idea not only of us cleaning up but that we’re doing something for the community. We’re not waiting for someone else to take care of the problem,” said Kay.
Kay says there is nothing magical about what they do, except the love for their neighbors and the environment.
“We have a lot of power to take care of our community, take care of our neighborhoods and have fun doing it,” said Kay.