It seems a shame to treat our earth – our community, our home — the way we do, leaving things on the ground for someone else to pick up. But because we’re not all bad, and many of us do value a clean city, volunteers by the thousands will be taking part in the annual Spring Into Clean events.
Heritage Park will play host to the annual waterfront cleanup Saturday – Earth Day – starting at 9 a.m. and continuing till 1 p.m. You don’t have to register, or pay anything; just show up, roll up your sleeves, and feel good about making the town more livable.
This is the 17th year for such an event, and Spring Into Clean coordinator Nancy Marcello, is cheered as how “it pools together many people to work as a team to clean many municipal parks and green spaces in the city of Barrie.
Marcello also says many folks are getting the message about preserving the environment – particularly the younger ones, who otherwise would have to live with the consequences of leaving all that litter where it’s been.
“I do believe that the community has embraced this event as it has been growing with the number of participants and schools. It has been great to see how many residents are taking part in keeping Barrie beautiful while embracing their environmental awareness.”
And the kids are getting involved in a big way. On Friday, more than 18,000 students, representing 43 schools in Barrie, will be pitching in to clean up their school properties and parklands and more than 700 community members and businesses have signed on to clean up public spaces this weekend.
Tim Horton’s and Progressive Waste Solutions are among the corporate sponsors of the event, which last year saw 15,000 volunteers clean up more than 159,000 square metres or 6.1 tonnes of litter. Nor, Marcello says, is community support limited to them.
“There has been an overwhelming response within our community, many individuals and groups have registered to take part in the Spring into Clean event by adopting a park to clean — for example, Busch Systems, Girl Guide groups, GEEP, Friends of Milligans and much more.”
Marcello refuses to be pinned down on the strangest object she and her volunteers have found in their travels: “all pretty mainstream stuff” she says, and leaves it at that.
She’d like to see you there Saturday morning starting at 9.
