When you join the award-winning Pacific Beach Coalition, you find yourself part of something special!

We’re a growing community of ‘Earth Heroes’ teeming with passion for protecting and preserving the health of our ocean, beaches, wildlife, and coastal environment.

Together we’re a powerful force for positive change, building and delivering a model for sustainable environmental stewardship and kinship among all ages, through advocacy, education, community building, and citizen action in the Bay Area.

Throughout the year, you can connect with others who care and take action by leading and influencing positive change for our environment. The opportunities are limitless! You can volunteer to clean a beach, restore native habitat, participate in advocacy, become a member, attend meetings, organize social hours, donate to our all-volunteer organization or one of our dedicated funds, join a committee, sponsor a program or event, become a liaison, and/or simply learn more about protecting our ocean, beaches, creeks, wildlife, native habitat and coastal environment through our e-News.

Our Mission Statement

Our Story

…1997, Penny with Jim Fithian & wife Ana Garcia heard someone say that Linda Mar beach was just a dump. At the time it was, so they decided then and there to start cleaning it up. Coastal Clean Up Day was coming up on the 3rd Saturday, so they agreed to join in and to have a cleanup on the 3rd Saturday of every month. Their passion spread and others joined in. Soon it evolved into what you know now as the Pacific Beach Coalition for which our mission is to advocate, educate, protect and preserve our ocean, beaches, creeks, wildlife and native habitat.

Twenty-three years later Jim and Ana still lead the cleanups monthly.
In the early 2000’s, Earth Hero Lynn Adams joined the group and Sharp Park had a leader. Soon the efforts expanded to remove litter from the streets before it could flow to the ocean. Community groups and businesses were engaged, empowered and inspired and the community started to embrace the environment and their neighborhoods. Over time an army of passionate volunteers including schools and corporations came from all over the Bay area, the East Bay, TriValley and Sacramento to clean our beaches and help the ocean. Monthly cleanups have now extended to
beaches south of Pacifica which includes Montara and Half Moon Bay.

It’s all about fun too. One month prior to September’s Coastal Cleanup Day, we encouraged the community to pick up as many cigarette butts as possible; a Butt Blitz. The end count was 92 thousand filters picked up! The first Earth Day & EcoFest drew in 150 participants and today draws thousands to clean our streets, beaches, shopping centers, parks and
creeks. Trash is all weighed in at the end and the community then celebrates afterwards. Local city, county and state political leaders make appearances every Earth Day, to show their gratitude towards the PBC’s efforts & achievements.

In the early years’ cleanups of 12,000 lbs. of trash was collected. Today the amount has dropped to 3-4,000 lbs., a positive sign of the improved cleanliness of the community. The most trash ever weighed in was in 2015 with a total weigh-in at 15,000 lbs., but that was the year Tunitas Creek joined in with a stash of tires and unsightly mounds of trash left behind by raves.

In 2022, Coastal Cleanup Day yielded 27,000 volunteers who picked up more than 220,861 pounds of trash in San Mateo County! We also saw 2,755 volunteer participants in our Street to Beach Cleanup program who picked up an astounding 135,083 pounds of trash throughout the Peninsula.

If an area of concern is reported, an earth hero always steps up to the plate and takes care of it. That’s how we roll. The PBC is definitely a unique organization and an award winning 501c3 ocean conservation nonprofit. We have inspired others to do good for the environment and are true influencers to those we connect with.
Our mission is to be a powerful force for positive change, building and delivering a model for sustainable environmental stewardship and kinship among all ages through advocacy, education, community building, and citizen action in the Bay Area.

PBC’s story was edited by the Pacifica Chamber of Commerce in May 2020.

The Pacific Beach Coalition is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization (EIN Nonprofit #83-1241456).

Pacifica registered address: PO Box 932, Pacifica CA 94044