GRAND RAPIDS, Mich.- Exodus Place in Grand Rapids is hoping to raise awareness and funds this 4th of July holiday weekend. They're attempting to break a Guinness World Record held in Great Britain since 2009 with 205,000 yellow rubber ducks floating 6/10's of a mile down the Grand River. The hope is the public will adopt a duck, or multiple ducks for $5 each, with the proceeds benefitting Exodus Place. "You're adopting it for the purpose of beating the world record," said Brent Webster, Community Relations Manager of Exodus Place.
Exodus Place is a Grand Rapids-based, registered nonprofit focused on rehabilitation and developing men dealing with difficult circumstances. They are getting the ducks from Wal-mart either donated or at a low cost.
Exodus Place will be conducting a Grand River clean-up the week before July 3rd. Exodus Place has also received a permit from the Department of Environmental Quality to put the ducks in the river. Webster said Exodus Place had to show its plan of removing the ducks and the current conditions that will keep them from floating away downstream. Webster said, "Everything we do has to impact the environment in a positive way, it has to impact the community in a positive way. It has to impact for profit, that's where the travel dollars and tourism come in and then it affects us, the non-profit. If we do this, we're being good stewards of what we've been given." For more details, go to exodusplace.org or worldrecordrubberduckrace.com.
