A huge congratulations goes out to the over 63,000 Canadians who registered for this year’s TD Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup at over 1500 shorelines. The data is rolling in, and we’ll be sharing the results as soon as we can. We’ve already heard some tales of unusual items at cleanups, and you can read about these here.
We’re also hearing some great stories from your fellow Site Coordinators. Please enjoy the below snippets of the stories people have sent in so far, and please send us in any stories you’d like to share.
Robert Murray of Pinawa MB writes:
Despite the cool and rainy weather, 20 people came out for our first annual TD Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup along the Winnipeg River. The good news is that our shoreline is quite clean. We only managed to fill 3 large trash bags and 2 recycling bags – not counting the 9 tires that wouldn’t fit in bags. We need to thank the people who don’t wait for a special day to pick up litter as their walk their dog or exercise along the trails. The bad news is that we did find a bewildering variety of trash. The “Antiques Roadshow” award goes to John Trueman, who scored a very cool old patent medicine bottle in pristine condition!
Zelda McKenzie of Hampton NB writes:
A big thank you to all the participants for a successful TD Great Canadian Shoreline Clean-up here in Hampton on September 20th. 2008. 21 participants joined in an effort to help keep our shorelines and marsh area clean, 11 of whom were from the HHS Green Team lead by Mr. Hall. We collected 200 lbs of garbage around Spooner Island and on the Kennebecasis River from Hampton to Darlings Island. Some of the types of litter we found were alarming, old tires, a TV, metal pipes and barrels to name a few. The world’s largest fresh water supply is found in Canada and it’s important that we make keeping it clean a priority. It only takes a moment to turn our boats around and pick up what has blown off or left at the shore. Keeping our nature clean is everyone’s responsibility.
Barry Baltassen of Winnipeg MB writes about his cleanup in Kenora ON:
It takes a community to raise awareness. That was the theme of the TD Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup which took place on Kenora’s Laurenson Creek on Saturday, Sept. 27, 2008. Organized by the Lake of the Woods District Property Owners, with assistance from partners Safeway, City of Kenora and TD Bank, the event saw 25 willing participants clean the shoreline.
A number of children made the day enjoyable and memorable with their enthusiasm. Duncan McEwen brought his two young boys Mason and Oliver fully expecting to look after the boys more than gather garbage. The boys fooled him. They wanted to pick garbage, and pick garbage they did, cleaning up the shoreline by the Safeway docks well before noon. Six year old Mason McEwen, “almost seven”, didn’t want to stop. “Picking up garbage is fun and good for the environment,” said Mason, when asked what he liked most about the day. Nine year old Even MacPherson and eleven year old Kaylyn Hamlyn expressed similar sentiments. The words of these small but mighty stewards of the land kept adults refreshed and inspired.
In total, 20 bags of garbage and 10 bags of recycling, representing 275 lbs. of trash over about one kilometre of shoreline, were collected.
Filed under: Cleanup Story
