Volunteers cleaning up streets of Happy Valley-Goose Bay
Organizer Jennie Ring-Michelin says the number of people coming together has already helped community pride
A springtime trash cleanup in Happy Valley-Goose Bay has seen the involvement of more than 70 local businesses this year.
While walking through the trails in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, nine-year-old Jolie Linstead picked up trash and piled it in an ATV trailer.
"It's kind of disgusting when I see all kinds of garbage on the ground and stuff and I just wanted to clean it up so we could have more space," said Jolie.
Jolie is one of the dozens of people in Happy Valley-Goose Bay taking part in a weekend community cleanup. The initiative was started by four business owners who were concerned by the amount of trash in the town.
"Nobody could even probably guess that it would grow as big as it has," said organizer Jennie Ring-Michelin, manager and operator of Jungle Jim's restaurant and Mariner's Galley.
In a week and a half, more than 70 businesses have contributed cleaning supplies and over $10,000 worth of prizes, including Air Borealis tickets, a barbecue set and a gardening set. The amount of trash this year was too much for the town to handle alone, Ring-Michelin said.
"I think that if they were left to do this initiative on their own that they would have failed miserably. I don't think that any one entity could have taken this on," Ring-Michelin said.
"We want it more as a positive aspect and if everybody chips in like they have, by Sunday this town will be cleaned up."
The Town of Happy Valley-Goose Bay said it does not have analytical data on litter so it's unable to say whether there is more this year.
On April 27, the town issued a statement warning people of "garbage and potential hazardous waste" on the town's bike trails. The town asked people to "be careful" on the trails and report garbage or hazardous materials to the town office.
The town has recently been in the spotlight due to what it called a "public safety" situation. The town recently removed several benches in public areas, saying there has been an increase in illegal activity and loitering.
Ring-Michelin said the cleanup initiative has already started to improve community pride.
"I've seen it with people. They're reaching out today," she said. "They're posting their pictures and you can see like, 'Look what we did. We're excited,' and everybody's online, the buzz is really good."
Ring-Michelin said they joined Tim Hortons "Pitch-In" initiative, which provided all the trash bags needed. People are encouraged to participate by cleaning up an area, then sending a photograph to the HVGB Community Cleanup 2023 Facebook page to be entered in the prize draw.
Jolie's grandmother Caroline Davis said they clean up their area every spring, and the recycling money goes to Linstead's education fund. Davis said Jolie didn't know there were prizes included until after she submitted her photograph.
"I wanted to show Jolie there's no good for us just to complain about things. We need to get out and take action and we wanted to make it fun," Davis said. "I'd like to see more kids getting out there and doing that and showing a lot of respect for their environment."
Jolie said people should keep the town clean.
"If we keep throwing garbage on the ground and not recycling, then we're dirtying up our earth and then we can't have another one after."
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