Blume’s Balloon Roundup sees major success
Blume's Balloon Roundup sees major success
OCEAN CITY, Md. – Balloons can be a fun way to celebrate things like birthdays and holidays, but if you simply let them fly away into the air, chances are they’re going to end up in our oceans and hurt our marine life, but that’s where the Blume family comes in.
Luke Blume, an organizer of Blume’s Balloon Roundup and the father of Emily and Joshua Blume said, “Dolphins eat them, whales ingest them and so every one you get out of there probably helps some animal or another and keeps them from eating them.”
Since June 29th, The Blume Family, along with help from the local community has been collecting balloons from the water.
Originally their goal was to collect 1,000 balloons by the end of the summer, but they’ve already passed that number.
Luke said, “We still have three weeks almost a month left so we’re I think we’re what, almost 1200 now.”
They say collecting balloons isn’t always easy.
Luke said, “If it’s windy and you’ve got the boat, when you pull up to them the wake from the boat wants to push the balloon away from the boat so yeah sometimes it’s more difficult than you would think.”
The Blume family said their efforts are spreading farther than just Maryland. They tell 47ABC they have people all over the country and even in other countries taking part in the cleanup effort.
Emily Blume said, “It feels really cool because we thought it would just be a regular thing for just the community but its gone really far. We’ve had people like even from the Bahamas bring them in.”
Luke added, “It’s turned into a good competition. Lots of people are trying to see how many they can get so it’s been good, we’re having fun with it.”
Not only is the Blume family inspiring others to clean up our oceans, but they’re also trying to prevent the release of balloons in the first place by offering words of wisdom.
Joshua said, “Releasing thousands or even a couple [balloons] to remember a family member I mean, you can do that in other ways.”
If you spot a balloon the next time you’re out on the water, the Blume family recommends you pick it up and dispose of it properly, that way you could save a marine animals life.
The Blume family is now selling “Blume Balloon Roundup” t-shirts and all proceeds made from the t-shirt sales will be benefiting the Murr Institute in Delaware as well as the Turtle Hospital in Marathon, Florida.
If you would like to buy a t-shirt, you can visit the Blume Balloon Roundup’s Facebook Page.
