Teamwork: The Youth Odyssey Way

The Youth Leaders at Youth Odyssey are doing some amazing teamwork for the natural environment in the Coastal Bend! Every month, they team up with the Audubon Outdoor Club to clean up Blucher Park. It’s a day of shared legwork and laughter!

The day starts at 9:00am when the Youth Leaders meet at the Youth Odyssey office, dressed and ready for action. Once we arrive at the park, we team up with the Audubon Outdoor Club and get to work! They day’s activities usually include trash and organic waste collection and invasive species removal, backed by a lot of team spirit and positive vibes.

By working together as a team, the Youth Leaders are able to make a huge positive impact on the health and beauty of the park in just a few hours! Together, they fill up bag after bag of refuse. It’s hard to believe how fast the pile grows!

Along the way, there’s free lunch, courtesy of Youth Odyssey’s partnership with Jersey Mike’s. It’s always a great morale booster in the afternoon!

Once the work is done, the Youth Leaders help each other carry the bags to a common collection site. Then, the team debriefs, takes photos, and talks about the accomplishments of the day. By the time we leave, the park looks amazing!

Best of all, our teamwork directly contributes to protecting the home of many native plants, trees, shrubs, and birds. Despite the small size of the park, it houses a wide variety of vegetation and gorgeous migratory land birds. Blucher Park is especially popular as a site for migrating passerines and hummingbirds in the spring.

Sounds pretty beautiful, right? Well, whether you’re a Youth Leader or not, if you’re as stoked on this project as we are, you can join the team by volunteering your time with the Audubon Outdoor Club at Blucher Park every Monday from 4-5pm.

But why stop there? There are lots of other organizations in Corpus Christi who are working to protect the natural environment and need volunteers. It’s always a good time to join in!

So, if you want to become an environmental steward of the Coastal Bend, check out the volunteer opportunities at any of these fantastic, eco-conscious organizations: Beautify Corpus Christi, Coastal Bend Audubon Society, Coastal Bend Bays Foundation, Corpus Christi Parks and Recreation, GROW Local South Texas, Oso Bay Wetlands Preserve, South Texas Botanical Garden, South Texas Master Naturalists, Texas Parks and Wildlife, Texas Sealife Center, Texas State Aquarium, and The Texas Zoo.