Thousands show up to clean Galveston beaches

GALVESTON, Texas (KTRK) -- On Earth Day, the beaches in Galveston were full of volunteers eager to make a difference. Thousands turned up to participate in the annual beach cleanup event, which has been going on for decades.

Volunteers found cups, cans, cigarette butts and even shoes littered across local beaches.

Many of the volunteer groups came from local schools, who organized the groups as part of their service learning initiatives.

"Service learning is community learning paired with deep reflection to give you a better learning experience so you can take more away from it. In a sense, it's more than just community service," one student volunteer said, adding that she was disappointed that she found hundreds of cigarette butts around the beach.

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