Young generations from across the Rio Grande Valley gathered on South Padre Island Saturday for the 20th annual Adopt-a-Beach Cleanup.

The cleanup was part of a Texas coast-wide effort sponsored by the Texas General Land Office. Cameron County was one of 25 counties that participated in the event.

Monica Vela, local coordinator of the event, said every year the cleanups draw more people, including younger generations.

"It’s great because it keeps them busy,” Vela said.

Rita Castañeda and her children Nicholas, 8, and Jenna, 10, came from La Feria to participate in their second cleanup.

“I want to teach my kids to be responsible and caring adults,” Castañeda said. “I want them to value the environment. If they enjoy playing on the beach, they need to keep it clean.”

Castañeda said she and her children collected plastic bottles, Styrofoam cups, lying mats, a tent box and other things that were “not bio-degradable.”

“It takes a lot of work for communities to keep the beaches clean,” Castañeda said. “In general, these beaches are clean because they’re kept up through [events] like this one.”

Castañeda said she wants her family to attend the beach cleanups on a regular basis.

To encourage children to participate in the cleanup, Jessica Rodriguez, a 6th and 7th grade science teacher at Port Isabel Junior High School, offered to reward her students extra points if they attended the event.

“The students who came don’t even need the extra points, but they just wanted to come out and help,” Rodriguez said.

As a first year teacher and previous beach cleanup volunteer, Rodriguez said this was her chance to encourage children to get involved with their “beautiful environment.”

“At a young age, you can still mold their minds,” Rodriguez said.

Oliver Salander, 12, a seventh grader at PIJH, said he came to the cleanup because his social studies teacher also offered to award extra points to students who participated in the event.

Among the items Salander collected were plastic bottles, an old rusted can of WD-40 and a broken sandal.

The young volunteer said he visits the beach often to surf, boogie board and dig around for objects.

“If there’s too much trash, it will blow into the water, and I won’t be able to surf,” Salander said. “Animals like sea turtles might choke on it.”

Although this was his first cleanup, Salander said he would like to participate in future efforts.

“[The cleanup] was fun because I got to hang out with my friends and cleaned up too,” Salander said.

Latasha Lewis traveled nine hours to participate in the cleanup.

Lewis and seven other student government members at Texas State Technical College in Waco have “made it a ritual” to participate in beach cleanups, she said.

Lewis said helping clean the beach is a great way, especially for younger kids, to get a start with their involvement in community service.

There were 800 volunteers registered before the cleanup, Vela said.

Half-way through the event, there were about 1,500 people signed up at the three Cameron County cleanup sites that included Boca Chica Beach, Isla Blanca Park and Andy Bowie Park, Vela added.

Volunteers were treated for their efforts with hot dogs, soft drinks, chips and water thanks to the many local and Valley sponsors who donated items for the event.

Some of the sponsors were Wal-Mart Super Centers, H-E-B, Coca-Cola, Lopez A&V Supermarkets, Target, Academy, Blue Marlin Supermarket, Dolphin Cove, Mata’s Meat Market and others.

The Texas GLO sponsors three statewide beach cleanups each year-one in the winter, spring and fall.