About – 808 Cleanups

About Us

How did we design our group in 2014 that eventually became a 501(c)(3) non-profit in March 2015? By putting volunteers in the pilot seat. So many people in Hawaiʻi have been taking action on litter and tagging on their own for years or even decades. Still more want to get started, but just don’t know how to begin. We know it is a big step to ignite that enthusiasm and get people engaged in a cause. How often have we told ourselves “someone else will handle it”? 808 Cleanups volunteers are those “someones” and we support them by providing supplies, connecting them with other volunteers and helping them organize their own cleanups.

Volunteers with 808 Cleanups doing a beach and park cleanup in Hawaii

Our Mission

808 Cleanups is a 501(c)(3) environmental nonprofit organization committed to restoring Hawaiʻi’s natural beauty by empowering volunteers to conduct decentralized cleanups from Mauka to Makai, responding to littering and vandalism of Hawaiʻi’s natural spaces, saving Hawaiʻi’s indigenous ecosystem through education, and building sustainable solutions with community partners.

Our Vision

Our vision is to enjoy a world with clean and safe beaches, hiking trails, and natural spaces without encountering any evidence of human littering or graffiti tags on any natural surfaces. We envision a society that cleans and maintains the land and sea so that reactive cleanups become obsolete, allowing us to focus on long-term environmental restoration and education.

Our Values

808 Cleanups was built around the following core values. We ask all involved in our organization (volunteers, board members, community partners, etc.) to practice these values with us:

Stewardship

We don’t just care about the environment a couple of days a month; we live, breathe, and sleep a true commitment to maintaining the beauty of this place that we are fortunate enough to call our home. That means we practice what we preach – we don’t litter, we don’t vandalize, we recycle, we don’t waste natural resources, and we try to use sustainable products whenever possible. It also means we pick up litter when we see it, we remove graffiti if we witness it, and we educate about the environment when people negatively impact it.

Innovation

We are always looking to the future to find innovative and forward thinking best practices and ideas that support our mission and vision. We encourage all volunteers to not only share their ideas with us, but to think of ways these ideas can be implemented.

Self-Motivation

We are an organization of action, founded by the desire to meet a need we saw that wasn’t being addressed. We didn’t sit around and wait for someone else to fix the problem – we rolled up our sleeves and asked others to do the same. Our dedicated volunteers are empowered to take the initiative and organize their own cleanups and environmental efforts without approval and oversight. Our role is to support, not control – and we are blessed to have hundreds of volunteers who have answered the call to action.

Respect

As residents of Hawaiʻi, we expect everyone to portray the Aloha spirit in all forms of 808-communication, whether that is onsite at a cleanup or through our social media pages. We respect the rich diversity of our volunteers and will not tolerate any disrespect in regards to race, nationality, religion, gender, age, or orientation. We also respect and honor the practices of the Native Hawaiian community, supporting their efforts to restore and preserve important place names and sites important to their heritage.

Issues We Tackle

Volunteer removing graffiti — Litter, Graffiti & Invasive Plant Removals

Young boy removing pallet bonfire nails with a magnet broom during a beach cleanup — Education & Outreach

Two young girls removing fishing net during a beach cleanup — Beach, Park, Trail & Urban Cleanups

Free diver removing fishing line from coral reef — Marine & Coral Reefs

GET INVOLVED

Our Leadership

**Aaron Sadler**
Vice President & Treasurer of the Board

**Michael Loftin**
Co-Founder & Executive Director

**Ethan Pearson-Pomerantz**
Board Member

**Kimeona Kane**
Director of Community Outreach

**Wayde Fishman**
Co-Founder & President of the Board

Sponsors & Partners

808 Cleanups relies on volunteers, private grants, public grants, and business donations for its success. The following foundations, public agencies and companies are integral in helping us keep Hawaiʻi clean.