Reflecting on 2025: A Year of Impact, Growth, and Momentum

As 2025 comes to a close, we at Love Blue Inc. want to take a moment to thank our incredible community of volunteers, partners, and supporters for an unforgettable year. Together, we removed thousands of pounds of trash from our beaches, hosted hundreds of cleanups nationwide, and engaged with thousands of passionate volunteers.

This year, we expanded our reach and impact through amazing new partnerships. A special shout-out to Open Water, our first-ever grant and hydration partner, helping fuel our cleanups across the country. We also collaborated with TerraCycleand the Borough of Wildwood Crest on a massive trash art project, set to debut in 2026. Along the NJ coast, we added more cleanup stations, strengthened our existing chapters, and built bigger presences at cleanups with stronger local partnerships.

Beyond the cleanups and numbers, 2025 was a year of building community, fostering leadership, and expanding our mission. While many still think of us as a student-led cleanup organization, we are so much more, a scaling national movement engaging all generations through education, hands-on work, and opportunities that develop future leaders.

The Impact of Your Support

Every dollar donated to Love Blue goes directly into our mission, funding cleanups, supporting chapter operations, creating educational programs, providing cleanup supplies, and building sustainable partnerships. For a nonprofit like ours, even modest financial contributions make a huge difference, allowing us to scale programs, expand into new communities, and provide meaningful opportunities for youth and volunteers nationwide. Your support doesn’t just keep us running, it powers the growth of a national movement committed to protecting our oceans, rivers, and beaches.

Looking ahead to 2026, we are excited to share that behind the scenes, we’ve been reorganizing, restructuring, and revamping Love Blue’s message and look. Our goal is to ensure everyone understands our full mission: to stop pollution at the source through sustainable practices, municipal partnerships, school programs, hands-on removals, and community cleanups, while growing our youth-focused initiatives into nationally recognized programs.

Here’s a glimpse of what’s coming in 2026:

• New chapters at colleges, universities, high schools, and in local communities nationwide.

• Our first-ever annual Love Blue event, bringing the movement together on a larger scale than ever.

• Exploration of new technologies to improve cleanup efficiency and impact.

• Expanded partnerships with both large corporations for funding and local businesses for community-level results.

• Ambitious goals to exceed past volunteer numbers and pounds of trash removed, including new territories and innovative projects like a new “Cigs Inside” board.

• Internships and full-time opportunities for passionate individuals ready to make a career in ocean and environmental stewardship.

• Increased momentum and engagement on social media to grow awareness and inspire action.

  
  

We have big goals, bold plans, and unwavering commitment. 2026 will be a year of innovation, expansion, and tangible impact and we can’t wait to take it all on with you. The best is yet to come.

Thank you for making 2025 incredible, let’s make 2026 unforgettable.

Love Blue Monmouth Represents at the Mid-Atlantic Marine Debris Summit

This month, members of the Love Blue Monmouth executive team had the honor of attending, and presenting at, the Mid-Atlantic Marine Debris Summit, a regional gathering organized by the Mid-Atlantic Regional Council on the Ocean (MARCO). MARCO represents the coastal priorities of Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, and New York, and its Marine Debris Summit brings together a powerful network of leaders committed to protecting our waters.

Representatives from state and federal agencies, Tribal nations, non-profits, academic institutions, and other regional partners convened to strengthen collaboration, share emerging concerns, and highlight innovative solutions in the fight against marine debris. Topics ranged from coastal storm debris and derelict fishing gear to abandoned vessels, microplastics, community-based initiatives, and new technologies reshaping marine debris prevention and reduction.

Love Blue Monmouth Takes the Stage

For Love Blue Monmouth, participating in this Summit wasn’t just an opportunity to share updates on our impact—it was a moment to celebrate what youth-led environmental action can contribute to the larger regional conversation.

Executive board members Siena and Grace represented the chapter, offering a firsthand look at how community-driven cleanup efforts inspire collaboration between students, universities, municipalities, and local businesses.

Siena reflected on the experience, saying:

“Love Blue has definitely shown me the power of community, as I think the beauty of our work lies in the involvement of university organizations, local governments, and small-businesses. These connections have strengthened my dedication to taking care of our shores, all while meeting such incredible people along the way. Presenting at the MARCO Marine Debris Summit was an amazing opportunity to share our mission and celebrate what a small community can accomplish together— and I’m so grateful to be a part of that.”

Grace shared a similar sentiment about the personal and academic impact of her involvement:

“Love Blue has been both an outlet and an inspiration, showing me how small actions can create meaningful change in our local communities. It keeps me motivated in my academic journey, and has opened doors to incredible opportunities, like the MARCO Marine Debris Summit.”

Why These Moments Matter

Love Blue’s presence at events like the Marine Debris Summit reinforces something we see every day: young people are leading meaningful environmental change. By engaging with regional partners, our chapters are not only cleaning coastlines—they’re shaping the future of marine debris prevention through collaboration, innovation, and community-building.

We’re proud of Siena, Grace, and the entire Monmouth executive team for representing Love Blue with passion, professionalism, and heart. Their work embodies what Love Blue stands for: uniting people, protecting our oceans, and uplifting the next generation of environmental leaders.

Love Blue Launches New Coastal School Program with Avalon Elementary School

This month marked an exciting new chapter for Love Blue Inc. as we officially launched a program designed for coastal schools located in the communities where we operate. Our goal? To empower young students with the tools, knowledge, and inspiration to protect their local beaches and become environmental stewards.

We were thrilled to kick things off with Avalon Elementary School in Avalon, New Jersey. Love Blue CEO & Founder AJ Caruso was invited to be a guest speaker at the school’s Student Council Meeting, where he shared the origin story of Love Blue, our mission, how we’ve evolved since our founding, and the impact we’re making across the country. Through an engaging and interactive presentation, AJ highlighted ways students could get involved and join the movement to protect our oceans. The response from the students was overwhelmingly positive, they were energized, informed, and ready to make a difference.

After the presentation, the incredible staff at Avalon Elementary coordinated with the City of Avalon and Avalon Beach Patrol, who welcomed the effort with open arms. Later that day, students met on the beach, where Love Blue set up a tent featuring our signature gear. AJ kicked things off with a motivational speech about why cleaning the beaches matters, not just for the environment, but for the health of the community and future generations. He explained the ripple effect that one cleanup can create, inspiring others to take action and raising awareness about ocean pollution.

Armed with gloves, bags, and a mission, the first group of students took to the beach and collected an impressive 30 pounds of trash, mostly small plastics, debris, bottles, and cans. These were items that could have easily ended up in the ocean, posing a serious threat to marine life.

During the cleanup, AJ introduced the group to the “Cigs Inside” Surfboard, a powerful visual piece created by the founders of Love Blue and our friends at Mellow Grove. The surfboard is embedded with cigarette butts collected from beaches all along the East Coast, from New Jersey to Florida. Students were fascinated by the board, and some of Avalon’s young surfers were especially drawn to it, asking questions and learning more about the impact of cigarette pollution.

Shortly after, a second group of students arrived, and the process repeated with the same enthusiasm and attention to detail. This group gathered another 20 pounds of trash, bringing the total for the day to 50 pounds removed from Avalon’s beaches.

Avalon is widely known for its clean, beautiful coastline, which made this effort even more meaningful. The students were incredibly focused on picking up the small but significant pieces, those that often go unnoticed but can cause the most harm if swept into the ocean by wind or tide.

Love Blue Inc. is incredibly grateful for the opportunity to collaborate with Avalon Elementary School, its passionate staff and students, and the city of Avalon. This pilot event is just the beginning—we’re looking forward to bringing this program to more coastal schools in the near future.

Thank you, Avalon Elementary, for making waves of change. Together, we’re building a cleaner, bluer future.