Bike for Boyan’s Ocean Cleanup

2026 Cycling & Fundraiser News!

Hello to all who have supported me along the way in fundraising to clean our oceans. 🌊 I have been lucky enough to cycle from Stuart, Florida to Boca Raton Museum and back (I did it as two day solo ride, since I wanted to actually spend time at the Museum for the Alphonse Mucha Exhibit!) in January of 2026, and put in several months of cycling for health and healthy air and oceans. I am posting now because I am about to have my 2nd hip replacement surgery, and as we are approaching “plastic-free July”, I wanted to share some information on a few great projects that will help you and your friends, family and community make better choices that support a more sustainable lifestyle by choosing less plastic products and packaging.

1) Watch the Netflix Documentary: 

“The Plastic Detox”

https://www.netflix.com/title/82074244

2) Watch the “Kelp” Ocean Documentary 

https://youtu.be/nAq0SwzkpUk

which includes modern kelp farming and a visit to Notpla ("Not Plastic”) Company.

3) Follow “Sway” on YouTube 

https://www.youtube.com/@swaythefuture

Watch their recent videos showing an incredible innovation in California that allows seaweed pellets to be used in traditional plastic film machines… Seaweed bags and sheets of seaweed that look and function exactly like plastic but are healthy AND compostable, can now be processed in bulk with traditional equipment! Amazing!!!

If you would like to make a new donation for Plastic-Free July, even $10. will help me reach the next milestone of $2,000. Raised! 

Hope you have a great Summer. 

I will be with my parents, healing from surgery, but hope to get back on the bike and water as soon as possible. Thank you for your positive wishes! -Colleen

Match my 37 mile Ride with a Donation!

Thursday Nov. 20th, 2025 Happy Thanksgiving week to all! I am grateful I was able to enjoy several hours cycling in the sunshine on one of the last, colorful, late Fall days, biking to the Westport, CT Farmer's Market at Gilbertie's Organic Nursery. The Westport Farmer's Market was founded by the late actor, and organic foodie, Paul Newman. This Thursday Market is open from 10-2 with 40 vendors including "Bubble and Brew" a mother and daughter run, restored vintage, French Citroen Firetruck that is now an award winning, electric food truck. A beautiful day, with fall leaves, pumpkins, Christmas Trees, kids enjoying popsicles and running outside in the fresh air, from greenhouses with organic veggies and apples, to the bright red food truck, to greenhouses with organic bread, pastries, Thai food, bagels and a Christmas gift shop! Please, match my miles and donate $37. to The Ocean Cleanup, today! Thank you.

Stay Safe on Fall Rides! Use DRLs on all bikes!

Hello, friends and donors! Happy Autumn!

4 Designs for The Ocean Cleanup Τ-shirt Contest

Please view a month of Illustration and Design work I did for the Spring 2025 Τ-shirt Design Contest for the Ocean Cleanup. All my designs were created by me alone, in Adobe Illustrator and are available to view on Teemill here*: https://cproppe-design.teemill.com/ 

My Ocean Cleanup Τ Shirt Design

The Ocean Cleanup is having a Τ shirt design contest, and I wanted to make a design, but I have been sick for more than two weeks! Flu or a virus that turned to a sinus infection... so I have not been out biking much. About two weeks into the illness, I remembered the Ocean Cleanup was doing a Τ shirt contest... so I have been working on a design, but I missed the deadline to enter. Anyway, I am still having fun with the design, and I hope you will enjoy my work in progress. My design highlights the many different countries in the world where the Ocean Cleanup is doing their work, and some of the sea animals they are helping by removing ocean plastics, including whales,  turtles, dolphins, fish and corals. I designed vector images today and may change the design to include more vector elements. The rainbow bar at the bottom of the design highlights the 9 countries where The Ocean Cleanup is currently active: Thailand, Jakarta, Malaysia, Vietnam, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Los Angeles(US), Jamaica and Panama. I made a vector version of the net Retention Zone today, and tiny, happy System 3 Ocean Cleanup workers too. I will keep refining my design until I am happy with it, even if I can't be in the contest. There is lots of work to be done at The Ocean Cleanup, and making a donation to my fundraiser is always appreciated! All proceeds go directly to the work of cleaning our Oceans. 

One World - One Ocean!!! 2025

Greetings Friends and Donors,

Let's give them the funding they need to finish the job!

I set this fundraiser up for "THE Ocean Cleanup .com" - ***The World's Biggest Operation of People, Shipping, Technology and Mechanical Barrier Solutions in History to Remove 90% of ALL Ocean Plastics*** on Earth Day, 2024. Yes.... They are an INCREDIBLE non-profit, doing the work to clean up what was once believed to be impossible to clean up. In 2024, they removed 11,000 tons of plastic from our World's Oceans-- this is approximately the weight of 5,500 elephants!  Yes, it's that BIG!  The only thing they need now is FULL FUNDING - an estimated 4.5-7 Billion, to finish the job of cleaning the Great Pacific Garbage Patch and ALL of the World's Most Polluted Rivers... but, it's still not just a "clean up". It's EDUCATION. It's training every country and their native residents how "not to dump into their rivers" while also teaching them how recycling the plastics can make new products and profit, and that having clean water is priceless. It is our ocean that saves us, cools the very air we breathe and the rain that falls, so it does not ultimately damage our shorelines and homes. Plastics have been killing our whales, turtles, fish and birds for decades. Plastics in our Oceans make it harder for our Oceans to "work properly" and harder for them to sequester carbon, and all of this has been proven by the many researchers who have worked on the many vessels of The Ocean Cleanup over the past ten years. This is a monumental mission that would be, above all, blessed by Gods. It is worth your donations because you will see the proof of the work being done all over the world, through videos and community triumphs. No donation is too small. Sharing this mission can only help them get the work done faster. Please, keep it going and tell your children to have hope. Never give up! Thank you for supporting my fundraiser for THE Ocean Cleanup .com and sharing with your friends and family. Donate, Sponsor, Become a Global Partner, join my team, or start your own fundraiser today. Thank you. -Colleen

I went Fossil Fuel Free in 2024—5,000 miles by bike and counting! (8,047 Kilometers)

I solo cycled 5,000+ miles (8,047 Kilometers) in 2024 and completed my first “fossil fuel free” year by bicycle with the use of public transportation only in emergencies. It’s been an incredibly transformative experience. I am grateful for your continued support of this fundraiser for TheOceanCleanup.com the largest Ocean Cleanup in World History, AND the only non-profit that is on track to remove 90% of ALL PLASTICS from our Oceans. Founded by Boyan Slat, a 16 year old from the Netherlands, this company has grown into one of the most inspiring nonprofits in the World for Ocean Lover's. Please visit TheOceanCleanup.com to learn more.

We are on a mission to clean the oceans!

Welcome to our page!  

I set up this fundraiser with the aim of raising as much money for TheOceanCleanup.com as possible as I cycle from Hobe Sound, Florida, up the East Coast of America, towards Washington, DC and NYC, eventually reaching my  parents and my childhood home.

The Ocean Cleanup’s mission is to remove 90% of floating ocean plastic by 2040. 

Please think about giving any donation you can to support us and The Ocean Cleanup. If you could inform your friends and family about this fundraising, it would be greatly appreciated. The impact increases with the number of people that are aware! 

A cause like this is important for us, as we hope that every generation can enjoy a healthy and clean ocean. 

Thank you in advance for your generosity; it means a lot!