Location: San Lorenzo River between the Highway 1 footbridge and the river mouth at E Cliff Dr Date: Saturday, April 11 2026 Event Type: Centralized Exchange Rate: $20 in GX Rewards per Volunteer
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/JYiv9ZM5VVM
BTG × SCGX was SCGX's first event and it partnered with Bridging the Gap (BTG), a quarterly San Lorenzo River cleanup led by co-founders Jennalee Dahlen and Melissa Begin. Their events engage local businesses, families, students, and volunteers in restoration work, with partners including Save Our Shores, Coastal Watershed Council, and San Lorenzo Park Neighbors.
SCGX began collaborating on BTG × SCGX in early February ahead of the April 11 cleanup. Its intention was to super-charge the regular BTG cleanup and coordinate hundreds of volunteers downtown to clean up the banks of the entire 3 mile stretch of San Lorenzo River along downtown Santa Cruz.
In the two months leading up to the cleanup, SCGX raised $6,300 from 16 Backers, secured an additional $3,800 in vouchers and products with help from BTG to reward to volunteers, and recruited 7 Community Groups to adopt sections of the three-mile downtown stretch of the river.
From April 9–11, Santa Cruz experienced heavy rain showers, creating uncomfortable conditions during what is typically a sunny time of year.
On April 11, from 10AM—1PM, 102 volunteers came out to care for the San Lorenzo River despite the rain. Volunteers collected litter or removed invasive plant species alongside Coastal Watershed Council.
BTG × SCGX was a large and ambitious, centralized event that divided the river into 9 sections, each assigned to a different Community Group. These groups included regular BTG volunteers as well as school, business, spiritual and support communities recruited by SCGX.
Working in groups of two or more, volunteers documented the litter they collected using the Save Our Shores Marine Tally App, managed by event partner Save Our Shores, which categorizes and quantifies collected litter.
After completing their cleanup, volunteers brought their collected litter to one of two Exchange Stations, located on the west side of the Water St bridge and in San Lorenzo Park. With support from SCGX, Community Groups transported collected litter by truck and carpooled to the Exchange Stations. Volunteers had their collected litter verified and weighed by Exchange Station workers and received $20 in GX Rewards in exchange for their labor.
As the event host, BTG secured the event permit and assumed liability for participants. SCGX hired contractors for litter disposal, event photography, and videography. Event expenses were subsidized by GX Rewards by paying contractors in local value or paying in US Dollars and reimbursing event leads with GX Rewards.
To address the organizational challenge of bringing hundreds of volunteers to the San Lorenzo River, SCGX partnered with Santa Cruz Forest School community member Danielle Ferretti and builder of the Santa Cruz Community Network to build the BTG × SCGX app.
