Nonprofit asks Corte Madera to install free sunscreen dispensers in two parks

At the start of the April 20 meeting, Sunscreen Marin founder Saha Hithya Acharya asked the Parks and Recreation Commission to add an agenda item to discuss installing two free sunscreen dispensers in Corte Madera parks.

Acharya said Sunscreen Marin's mission is "to decrease skin cancer rates in Marin County" by providing free sunscreen dispensers in parks and schools. She told the commission Marin County residents face higher melanoma risk than elsewhere in the Bay Area and that Sunscreen Marin has already installed dispensers in Belvedere Town Park and at a school; she estimated the dispensers have supported an estimated 6,000 sunscreen applications.

Acharya asked for two dispensers in Corte Madera: one at Town Park and one at Centennial Park. Commissioners asked about usage rates, refill and maintenance: Acharya said each dispenser contains roughly 2,000 pumps, she checks and services them monthly, and initial installations in Belvedere were funded by a Belvedere Community Foundation grant while some dispensers at a school were funded by the school. She requested staff add the item to a future agenda for further discussion; staff responded that the matter would be taken up under the meeting's agenda-item addition procedure.

Chair Miles thanked Acharya for the presentation and staff said they would follow up and add the item to a future agenda.