Krewe De Coulee: Homecoming Keeps Beads in Circulation and out of Storm Drains!

After the homecoming parade 23 students, faculty, staff, and community members volunteered for Krewe de Coulee: Homecoming Clean up on Monday, Nov 11th to pick up beads and trash left behind after Saturday’s homecoming parade before the beads and litter could enter our storm drain systems, coulees, and our local Bayou Vermilion. Cleaning up after parades is crucial for drains because the large amount of litter generated during the celebrations, especially plastic beads, can easily clog storm drains, leading to flooding and polluting waterways if not properly removed, potentially harming wildlife and the environment so the best time to clean up is right after a parade! 

For 2 hours, volunteers picked up beads along the parade route and sorted unbroken beads into bead recycling bins provided by the Arc of Acadiana. These bead recycling bins were placed along the parade route for the homecoming parade to encourage parade goers to donate any unwanted beads so they can be fixed up and reused. Thanks to parade goers and Krewe de Coulee: Homecoming volunteers UL Lafayette donated 513 POUNDS of beads to Arc of Acadiana to keep them in circulation so they can be reused for future celebrations. Most of the beads that were picked up Krewe de Coulee:Homecoming was still in tact and was able to be donated to Arc of Acadiana.

A huge thank you to Arc of Acadiana for their support in making this possible and to Parish Proud for providing the supplies and smiles!