As Hillary Clinton famously noted in her 1996 book, “it takes a village.” Regardless of views on education reform, the message about the power of collaboration and the significance of a chorus of voices in any conversation rings true for me.

Today, San Diego Coastkeeper runs on the power of our own village, specifically the people, organizations and companies in America’s Finest City and beyond. In 2011, individual volunteers put over 25,000 hours of time into protecting our waterways. More than 20 businesses and community groups joined the collaborative Water Reliability Coalition to advocate for a safe, reliable, sustainable and cost-effective local water supply.

Our water quality monitoring and beach cleanups depend on those 25,000 hours that volunteers contribute. And we do our best to make it a positive experience. We commit to their safety and to the sustainability of our practices. That’s why when Magid Glove and Safety called us up to offer a donation of their product, we thanked them enthusiastically. Their donation of lab gloves and reusable cleanup gloves helps us meet our quality assurance protocol in the lab, “Bring Your Own” goals for sustainable practices at 2012 beach cleanups and provide comfort and safety for our volunteers.

This week, Coastkeeper staff will participate in the Regional Task Force for the Homeless “We All Count” homeless census. We are part of this village and we like to add our voices to the chorus… you might mistake our office for the Singing in the Rain clip from Glee, we’re so enthusiastic. Yesterday I worked with three different interns, one in high school, one in university and one a retiree. They all “sing” for clean water every week. What’s your song? Tell us about it in the comments and email us if you want to volunteer or have resources to donate. Thanks for being part of our village!