Tired of walking past ever-increasing piles of garbage while walking the dog or riding their bikes, a Richmond family took matters into their own hands this week.
Out on Wednesday for their “routine” walk in the No. 4 and Francis road area, the Twyfords – dad Mark with kids Emma, 10 and Daniel, 9 – were armed this time with plastic bags.
And, to their amazement, they managed to fill six bags with garbage during their short stint out in their neighbourhood.
“(We were) inspired by articles I’ve been reading on garbage clean-ups around the city,” said Mark, a teacher at Thompson elementary, who helps his kids deliver the Richmond News every week.
“They were born in Japan, where I lived and taught English for 11 years. That’s where I realized how clean things should and can be!
(The) Japanese people have a real sense of pride in their community.”
Mark said he and the kids are now planning on taking garbage bags with them every time they go on walks with the dog and also would like to start doing it on their paper route.
“Daniel mentioned to me at one point that people in a passing car gave him the thumbs up and smiled, so that helped motivate him,” added Mark.
“Hopefully, he helped to inspire some who were seeing what he was doing.”
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