Superheroes to clean up Strathmore

Shannon LeClair
Times Reporter

 

Imagine dozens of superheroes running around picking up garbage and other litter around the community. That’s exactly the vision that Becky Stone and Marci Hira had in mind when they came up with the idea for the first annual Strathmore Superhero Clean-up.
Hira pitched the idea to administration and council at the April 15 town council meeting. She has recently moved to Strathmore with her family, and had met Stone through her yoga studio. The idea behind the clean-up, besides beautifying the town, would bring the schools, local businesses and the community together.
“We have to be proud of our town and I think one of the things that’s very important today is to teach our kids the importance of our environment, and recycling and garbage and not littering,” said Hira.
The plan is to split the town into grids, with participants being given a section to clean over a three-hour window from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.
The first day of the event for the schools is on June 4, and there will be a second Superhero Clean-up day for the public on June 6.
Following the clean-up there will be a BBQ lunch and entertainment.
There will also be prizes given out to the groups for things like the most trash picked up, the weirdest garbage, most recycling, best photo, best school group photo and more.
Hira said they are primarily targeting the schools, mostly because they can do it in teams and in larger classes. The participants will also get a document teaching the importance of cleaning up the town, which they can then bring home and talk to their parents about it.
Stone and Hira hope to see this become a tradition.
“Ever since I moved back to Strathmore, I have been rather appalled at the amount of litter around. With this clean-up day, our intention is to generate a sense of community pride and individual ownership of our town and our environment,” said Stone.
“We hope that by working together as a community to spiff up our town, we will instill a sense of responsibility in ourselves and our youth – for who will care for our world, if not us?”
At the council meeting, Councillor Bob Sobol said the town does a good job cleaning up the parks, but said it is the streets, ditches and the gutters that drive him crazy, and is a matter he was planning to bring it up about what can be done as a municipality to resolve it.
“This is such a great start and if we can build some more awareness maybe we can stop everybody from throwing out their McDonalds or Tim Hortons cups onto the ground,” said Sobol. “I really think this is a great idea, and I would like to propose that we look after the advertising plus $1,500 as a support for this project.”
The motion to cover the cost of advertising, not to exceed $500, and the financial support of $1,500 was approved by council.
The last date to sign up your business or organization to be a part of the June 6 event is May 22. Contact Marci Hira at 587-897-2193 or marcibrianne@gmail.com, or Becky Stone www.pranavayoga.ca to register and find out more information.