Thule Car Racks Sponsors National River Cleanup Week

Thule Car Racks announced it will be partnering up with America Outdoors as a sponsor of National River Cleanup Week, May 14-22. National River Cleanup Week is a non-profit organization that works to raise public awareness of the magnitude of trash and waste that accumulates in U.S. waterways. Founded by America Outdoors in 1992, National River Cleanup Week now includes over 430,000 volunteers that have participated in 4,180 cleanups covering over 88,000 miles of waterways. In 2004, 47,706 volunteers that represented 340 registered groups collected an estimated 1,200 tons of trash and debris.

Chairman of National River Cleanup Week, David Brown, stated "Educating people about the sources of litter and pollution in our rivers is the first step in cleaning up our waterways. In just a couple of hours a dozen volunteers can collect a mountain of litter from one mile of shoreline. It's a great lesson in the role of individual responsibility in keeping our rivers free of trash and debris."

Thule will be providing kayak rack and canoe rack systems to enable volunteers to transport boats that will assist them in clean up efforts. Besides Thule Racks, the 2005 sponsor list includes Old Town Canoe & Kayaks, Extrasport, Wilderness Systems, Lotus kayak gear, Watermark, Hooked on the Outdoors, Canoe & Kayak magazine, Paddler magazine, the Shimoda Group, America Outdoors, the U.S. Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management and Bureau of Reclamation, W.L. Gore & Associates, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters and the Trull Foundation.