This year’s campaign to cleanup litter and remove marine debris from the Alabama Gulf Coast is shifting to assist people affected by Hurricane Sally.

The Alabama Coastal Cleanup (ACC) announced Monday on Facebook it was reorganizing its efforts to “best serve our communities with hurricane cleaning and recovery efforts.”

In Baldwin County, ACC said it is working to partner with local volunteer efforts to help organize cleanup campaigns. This means it will not have check-in stations at most of its normal sites.

In Mobile County, ACC says check-in stations will be operating this Saturday at sites in Bayou La Batre, Big Creek Lake, Chickasaw, Fowl River, Three Mile Creek and West Mobile Bay. The Chickasabogue site will host its Coastal Cleanup on Saturday, Oct. 2, and Dauphin Island is delaying Coastal Cleanup until later this fall.

Employees of Alabama Power, along with their families, volunteer their time to help pick up trash during the 2019 Alabama Coastal Cleanup. (Dennis Washington/Alabama NewsCenter)

The Alabama Coastal Cleanup is the largest one-day volunteer event in Alabama. (Dennis Washington/Alabama NewsCenter)

Volunteers across Mobile and Baldwin counties pick up trash during the 2019 Alabama Coastal Cleanup. (Dennis Washington/Alabama NewsCenter)

Volunteers collect trash during the 2019 Alabama Coastal Cleanup. (Dennis Washington/Alabama NewsCenter)

Volunteers pick up trash during the 2019 Alabama Coastal Cleanup. (Dennis Washington/Alabama NewsCenter)

Keeping the coast pristine is important to a healthy aquatic environment. (Contributed)

This change is not the first shift for this year’s cleanup campaign. The COVID-19 pandemic had already forced organizers to spread out the campaign from one day to a week to give volunteers and staff the space and time they need to stay safe from COVID-19. When Hurricane Sally made landfall Sept. 16, organizers delayed the scheduled start from Sept. 19 to Sept. 26.

2020 Alabama Coastal Cleanup will have a few changes from Alabama NewsCenter on Vimeo.

The ACC is Alabama’s largest one-day volunteer event. In 2019, approximately 5,000 volunteers removed more than 30,000 pounds of trash from Alabama’s coastline and waterways. For more information about the coastal zones, zone captains, start times and safety tips, visit AlabamaCoastalCleanup.com or call 251-928-9792. You can also follow the Alabama Coastal Cleanup on Facebook at www.facebook.com/AlabamaCoastalCleanup.