Happy summer beautiful people and thank you so much for clicking on a link to bring you here. Cash Trash Bash is a fundraising initiative that I began in 2015 and now we are in our 8th year of raising awareness on ocean pollution in and around Bermuda’s waters. We are not a registered charity but use all the funds raised to benefit a local and international charity that is environmentally focused.

My name is Karen Plianthos and myself, along with my mom Louise Jones, my two daughters Ophelia (6) and Grace (5) and numerous other volunteers will be spending 30 days from July 19th to August 17th, removing trash from the oceans, beaches and coastlines of Bermuda.

I am kindly asking for donations of $1 for every 1 pound of trash that we collect. This year unlike years in the past I am lowering the goal on the amount of trash we wish to collect as my daughters are now actively diving up trash and it’s more important to foster two more ocean activitists than to reach a lofty goal. So with that in mind we are hopeful to collect 1,000 pounds of trash in our 30 days.

The two charities that we have selected this year are The Sargasso Sea Commission - https://www.sargassoseacommission.org and Outer Banks Forever https://obxforever.org is the international charity in North Carolina. The Sargasson Sea Commission’s Marine Research Fellow is Fae Sapsford – cousin to Michelle Howard the original reason why Cash Trash Bash started 10 years ago! And Outer Banks Forever protects the national parks including Cape Hatteras – the closest land mass to Bermuda. Mum, my daughters and I will be traveling there in October, we are excited to see the great work they are doing there.

For those wanting to understand why my brother Wayne Jones is the recipient of the funds, it is due to the requirement of a US based account to use this donation platform - please note that all monies received will be distributed to the two charities above.

Thank you for giving whether it be your time if you want to come with us and pick up trash, your money to help us support these two incredible charities or your encouragement to keep us on track to reach our goal! Last year we pulled 3,013.51 pounds of trash from Bermuda's waters over 31 dive days and from generous individuals' donations raised $4,286.56. Thank you for making Cash Trash Bash VIII once again a mega success!