It took a duck having trouble paddling through a water-filled ditch to mobilize a small neighbourhood into action.
The resourceful quacker managed to negotiate a route past the large, offending piece of plastic on the greenway off Railway Avenue.
But while witnessing the duck’s journey, Sandy VanOstrand also began to notice litter and debris up and down the 250-metre stretch of the path behind her Cornerbrook Crescent home.
And it was then that she had the idea of corralling her neighbours into forming a mini clean-up crew.
“Although the duck managed to get around the garbage, I thought this wasn’t right,” said VanOstrand, who had been out for a walk with her husband at the time.
“We started to notice all this other garbage lying around and we thought ‘this looks terrible.’
“You could see it all along the Railway path and I thought straight away, I’m going to put an email out to all the neighbours.”
Everyone on the crescent’s Blockwatch list got an email inviting them to form an impromptu clean-up team two days later at 11 a.m.
“About seven neighbours (out of 20 or so homes) came out and they were armed with all different things, litter pickers, bags, rakes,” said VanOstrand.
“I was a little surprised, but I was hopeful because there are lots of good people on this street.
“We spent less than an hour out there and we filled two, big, black garbage bags.”
Now, other people, she said, including parents and their kids, want to come out and help next time.
“I’m not sure how often we’ll do it, but it was a lot of fun,” she added.
“We would love to see other neighbourhoods across Richmond do the same thing; it’s fun, it’s social and it doesn’t take much time.”
If you have a Community Spirit story you'd like to share, email [email protected] or [email protected] with "Community Spirit" in the subject line. Or call our newsroom on 604 249 3342.
